We marched toward our destination while Gui Guzi and the Fireblade Cavalry scouted and cleared the way for us. It was the season of war and strife, so our enemies could be plotting to ambush us anywhere, anytime. I especially didn’t want to imagine the losses we would suffer if we got ambushed at Dragonbone Mountain Range by an intelligent player like October Rain.

As the saying went, better safe than sorry.

……

“Big bro, your fifth promotion quest sure is epic…” Beiming Xue said smilingly while sticking close to me.

I nodded in agreement. “It’s okay…”

Murong Mingyue complained, “Okay, my ass! This is torture, dammit. My period just came a couple of days ago, and now I’m forced to stay online for over half a day without pause! What’s going to happen to me!”

I couldn’t hold back a chuckle as I looked back at her. “Relax, sis, I’m sure it won’t leak. The quality of May Flower tissue papers is pretty good these days…”

“Pretty good, my ass! Every last one of them is like a heartless businessman!” Murong Mingyue swore frigidly. She must’ve suffered a lot to show such a reaction.

Meanwhile, Beiming Xue was desperately trying to hold in her laughter.

I said, “Don’t laugh. If sis gets angry and decides to ravage you, I’m not going to help you…”

“Sure, I won’t laugh! Hehe…”

“When was your last period, Beiming?”

“12th last month.”

“Oh? It’s the 11th today. Isn’t that just perfect…”

“...”

I felt better than ever as I continued to make fun of the girls while being surrounded by the valiant warriors of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. With an army like this, who could say we didn’t have the right to conquer the world? Tsk tsk.

It was at this moment He Yi returned to us and got off her horse. She canceled her mount and walked beside me.

“Lu Chen.”

“Hmm?”

“When was the last time you went back home?” she asked with a blink.

“Er…” I answered a bit awkwardly, “Haven’t been there since the last time we went there together. I did call him a few times though…”

He Yi curled her lips. “You really don’t know how to be a good son… oh well. I have the time anyway. Once this Coldblade War is over, let’s take two days off, go back to your hometown, and visit your father again. Recently, you’ve been spending all day and night working in the office or playing games in the workshop. You’ll crumble if you don’t take a break every once in a while. Let’s also take this opportunity to explore the landscapes around your house, alright?”

Beiming Xue hugged my arm excitedly before I could even say anything. “I want to go too big bro!”

Murong Mingyue pursed her lips. “Sigh, if everyone’s going then I suppose I can make the trip as well. Hey, does your family raise chickens, Lu Chen? I want to eat cooked free-range chicken with facing heaven pepper in it…”

Her request was dumbfounding. “I’m not sure. I think so, but it’s gonna cost you 100 RMB per chicken…”

“Fuck, you greedy bastard. You’re gonna make me pay that much to eat at your place?”

It was at this moment Xu Yang moved closer to us with a look of terror on his face. “What did you say, Mingyue? You want to pay Lu Chen to eat him? I… I… heavens, Du Thirteen once told me that this world is full of debauchery, and I didn’t believe him. I also thought that Lu Chen and boss are made for each other, but the two of you are… I’ll never believe in love anymore!”

Murong Mingyue hit Xu Yang’s head once with her scepter and scolded him, “What the hell are you talking about, you simple-minded fool! You can’t even hear a dialogue without misinterpreting words, and you dare talk about love!? Hmph! Who told you I want to eat Lu Chen?!”

She then shot me a grudgeful look. “He would turn me down anyway even if I asked nicely…”

Xu Yang foamed at the mouth and died. I survived because my resistance was greatly improved due to prolonged contact with Murong Mingyue. I could handle her even if we were engaged in a most heinous conversation while she was in her invincible mode.

He Yi giggled. Grabbing onto my hand with one hand and Murong Mingyue’s with the other, she declared, “Alright, it’s decided. Once the Coldblade War is over, we’ll spend a day to prepare and travel to Lu Chen’s house together. We’ll visit uncle and temporarily free our thoughts from work and leveling.”

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll give him a call later.”

“No!”

But He Yi stopped me and said, “If you call uncle now, he’ll stress himself out trying to prepare for our arrival! We don’t want to burden him more than he already is, right? We should only call him when we’re ten minutes away from reaching the house. This way, he won’t have time to prepare the rooms, and he’ll have to leave it all to us. We should also buy our food and drinks beforehand before we head over.”

“Okay!” I smiled at her. Truth be told, I didn’t want to trouble my father either. He had worked hard enough his whole life. As a son, my only job now was to keep him comfortable as much as I could.

……

Over an hour later, we arrived at the foot of Sky City. We gazed at the floating from the ground and noted that the rocks that made up the path to its entrance were crawling with all kinds of Night Creatures. Moreover, our return scrolls were useless because the magic formation had already been destroyed.

We were unable to squeeze our way to the front at all. There were way too many players in China, and right now they were filling up every inch of Sky Forest.

I gripped the Heaven-stealing Sword and ordered, “Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Little Gui, take some men with you. We’re going to open a path to the eastern gate of Sky City for our main force and clear out the randoms in that area. There’s no way they can defend themselves against the enemy waves and bosses anyway. After that, we’ll spread out our defensive formation and wait for the enemy to hit us.”

“Got it!”

The generals and elite players of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls followed behind me as I squeezed to the front. In a situation like this, the player with the higher Strength could “push” a player with lower Strength away from their original position. It was a pretty logical setting. Slowly but surely, we were able to part the crowd and make our way toward the eastern gate.

Riding on her Snow Domain Windchaser and gripping Whirlwind, He Yi caught up to us from behind and shouted, “Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls would like to establish a defensive position at the east side of Sky City, and we swear to defend it with everything we’ve got! Sorry to trouble you all, my friends, but can you please open up some space for us? Please give us this face, thank you…”

Our beautiful guild leader’s plea was polite and well-fitting, so a lot of players acquiesced and gave us some space. Of course, there were also some idiots who refused to leave and threatened us with their weapons, to which Xu Yang responded with his own sword point, “Are you going to leave or not? If not, I can always ask Gui Guzi to kick your ass. Little Gui, go!”

Gui Guzi’s Armored Swordback Dragon roared in response. The Undying Knight cut a terrifying image, and no one dared to challenge his authority. Just like that, the minor conflict was resolved “peacefully”, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Soul occupied a defense line that was about 500 yards long. It was also just the right amount of space considering the amount of people we had brought. If we could defend these 500 yards successfully, then one might say that our performance in this war would be outstanding.

Beep!

It was at this moment I received a message from Lin Yixin: “Is your formation on the east side of the city, Little Cheat?”

“Yep. What about you guys?”

“Same. I have a feeling that the tenth wave will be incredibly fierce, so I’d rather be on the same side as you and reduce the risk of being eliminated early.”

“Hehe, that’s great. I look forward to working with you!”

“Mn. If my forces are defeated by the monsters, you must show up and save me from their clutches, okay?”

“You worry too much. Coldblade is a goddamned skeleton, he would never try to make you his mistress of the fort.”

“Hmph, bastard!”

……

A far distance away, Lin Yixin and almost twenty thousand Snow Cathaya players abruptly appeared at the eastern side of Sky City. They had more or less the same troops as us. Rows and rows of Snow Cathaya emblems aligned themselves in order as their core players—Purple Marquis, Beauty At First Sight, Shadow Chanel and so on—moved to the front lines.

The crowd was restless, and the countdown had already begun. The first wave was going to show up very soon. It was at this moment another guild appeared to the left of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. It was The Monarch Descends led by Ling Xueshang herself. Tsk tsk, it looked like the three of us had come to the mutual understanding that we would fight together as one united entity. This was good. Not only did it improve the relationship between our guilds, the good atmosphere also reduced the risk of an ally getting greedy and nabbing OP equipment from a dead ally, like when Lin Yixin dropped her weapon some time ago.

Profit was always tempting, but those who could persist in their beliefs when forced to choose between the two could be considered true friends.

……

Xu Yang gripped his sword and growled. “Warsky Alliance is guarding the west, Hegemon Palace, Mad Dragon, and Flower Room are guarding the north, and Gods of Destruction and Soul Battle Robes are guarding the south. Do you think they can keep the waves at bay, Lu Chen?”

“Hard to say…” I replied with a deep frown. “All the Night Creatures under Coldblade seem pretty powerful, and I can’t even tell if we can keep them at bay. Everyone, put on your serious faces and give me all you’ve got. No wave can make it past us. At the very least, we cannot lose control of the east side, no matter what!”

“Got it!”

Everyone nodded in unison and waited tensely.

A few minutes later, a ding finally resounded across the main city—

Ding~!

System Announcement: All players, the first monster wave led by a Level 135 Purple Gold Rank boss, Sharp Blade Devil, has crossed the spatial bridge using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter!

……

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh…

The light screen surrounding Sky City started flashing rapidly. Large hordes of monsters—mutated Skeletal Devils with blade arms that looked sharp enough to cut steel in half—started flying out of the teleportation formation. Their strength seemed to be a perfect match to their intimidating appearance because they were Level 135 elites!

My heart sank. From the looks of it, I wouldn’t put it past the devs to send Level 145 shadow-rank mobs at us during the last wave or something. It was highly doubtful that the players of Sky City could defend against this many mobs successfully!

……

Thud thud thud…

Skeletal Devils ran down the floating rocks and swarmed us from every direction. It was as if their numbers were endless. It took them only a moment to reach the frontlines.

Standing at the helm, I summoned the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf and growled, “Brothers and sisters, the time to harvest experience has arrived! Spread out and give it your all! Make sure you are in a party so that all our priests, bards, and tacticians will benefit from the experience as well! For gold and equipment!”