He Yi entered the Soul Suppressing Cloak on the guild item list and set it so that all fighter players could exchange for the equipment. However, there was a catch: it cost a whopping 200k contribution points...

Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, High Fighting Spirits, and everyone else goggled at the price tag. Then, they started sighing among themselves. "Fuck, you don’t have to be so obvious, guild leader. What a dark world we live in…"

I grinned at them. "Dark world, my ass! I’m the one who should be saying that! You guys got a ton of equipment already, but I haven’t gotten anything until now! Also, I’m leagues ahead of the second highest contributor in the guild. Even if she set the price higher, none of you could even hope to compete with me for it, unless I gave up the Soul Suppressing Cloak myself…"

Li Chengfeng laughed loudly before nodding. "Well, that’s fair. You’re the one who killed the boss, and your war points are the highest out of everyone. It’s only right that the first Earth-grade item of this game belongs to you, not to mention that you’re also the vice leader of our guild and our only CGL Hall of Famer. Without these equipment, how are you going to solo the CGL Hall of Famers of Warsky Alliance, Candle Dragon and so on and show them who’s boss?"

High Fighting Spirits agreed. "That’s right. The sooner you become a godlike warrior, the better. We’re all looking forward to the next time we butt heads with Candle Dragon, hmph hmph!"

Pure Love walked up to me with her scepter. "Big brother Lu Chen looks even more handsome now…"

What could I even say to that? I tossed the Soul Suppressing Cloak into my bag because I was still a level away from equipping it. There was no hurry. I was at Level 124 and 74% right now thanks to God Dancer, and after the tenth monster wave was over I should be able to hit 125.

……

"What else did the boss drop?" He Yi asked.

I dug through my bag again. When the boss died a dozen or so messages had popped up in the party channel, so it was impossible for me to keep an item or two to myself even if I wanted to.

I had gotten seven or eight Rank 1 and 2 Gemso. The moment I confirmed them for distribution in the guild item list, they were bought by the players who were willing to spend the contribution points in the blink of an eye. After that, I spent a while digging through my bag again and produced two purple skillbooks. I touched the items, and their stats screen appeared before everyone’s eyes—

Iron Wall VII: Beseech the power of the war general and increase the Defense of all party members by 20%. Tactics Requirement: 100. Class Requirement: None. Cost: 2000 Reputation.

Prime V: Beseech the power of the war god and increase all party members’ Attack by 15% and HP regeneration speed by 50%. Tactics Requirement: 150. Class Requirement: None. Cost: 2000 Reputation.

……

I curled my lips. I wasn’t expecting both skill books to be stratagems. Iron Wall VII was basically the poor man’s version of Little Piglet’s Vajra, but if it was used by a high-level tactician with incredible Tactics stat, then it wouldn’t be too bad. At the very least, it definitely had its practical uses. As for Prime V, it was also a great stratagem that boosted Attack and HP regeneration speed. It was excellent for both PvP and grinding.

There were a couple of good tacticians in Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, and the highest-leveled one was Level 117. Tactician naturally gained 1 Tactic every time they leveled up, and if I were to factor in their equipment, their total Tactics was around 250. 2.5 times 20% was 50% Defense, and that wasn’t a bad number at all.

I submitted the skillbooks under the tactician category, and a while later they were claimed by two high-level tacticians. Not everyone in the guild could become a Famous General as a matter of course, so tacticians were always in demand for their Encourage and so on. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call them the backbone of the guild.

I spread my arms and said, "Alright, we’ve distributed all the loot God Dancer had dropped, so it’s time to reform the battle formation and prepare for the final wave. Once that is done, we’ll attack Sky City, kill that tyrant and wrap up this coup d'état."

Everyone nodded. The ninth monster wave was almost finished, but the player faction had suffered tremendous losses as a result. Snowy Cathaya and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had less than 2000 players left, The Monarch Descends had less than 1400 players left, and Warsky Alliance’s failed gamble left them with less than 1000 players. In fact, they were lucky to survive after they were ravaged by the mobs, the boss, Snowy Cathaya and us.

In the system window, the total number of surviving players was even more pitiful. Only 19047 players were still in this war.

Li Chengfeng said with a smile, "Interesting. To think that so few of us are left after the ninth wave… I sure hope we won’t all be routed by the end of the tenth wave…"

I raised the Heaven-stealing Sword and declared, "Then let’s do our best to minimize our losses as much as possible. Eve, please send a small party to carry the loot back to our warehouse. In fact, let’s have 20 people with additional bagspace carry all the top-tier items dropped by the Giant Ice Flame Beasts back to Dark Moon City. They’ll be dedicated carriers who are exempted from battle."

He Yi couldn’t help a giggle. "You’re too late. I’ve already arranged something like that a long time ago~"

"Haha!"

Long story short, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ objective in this war was to maximize our profits and widen the power gap between our enemies and ourselves as much we could. It was what the guild needed the most right now.

Hundreds of our fighters were standing at the frontlines. They were probably the strongest players we had since they survived when everyone else was washed away by the monster waves. Not only were they the best of the best, they might be even stronger by the time this Coldblade War was over!

We all held our breaths and looked at the light screen covering the entire Sky City. No one knew what monstrosity would cross through the spatial bridge and act as our final opponent in this do-or-die war.

It was at this moment two system announcements resounded throughout all China servers—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes (Vanished God City)" has successfully defeated the Spirit Rank Boss, Hazy Wanderer, and reached Level 120. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the sixteenth Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Repel"!

Repel: Beseech the power of the battle soul and increase all party members’ Attack by 25% and reduce all surrounding enemies’ Attack by 10%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Skill exclusive to player "Stranger of Three Lifetimes”.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "Luo River God of the Capital (Wind City)" has successfully defeated the Spirit Rank Boss, Magic Breaker, and reached Level 122. They have also met the criteria to become a Famous General and become the seventh Famous General of China! They have gained Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Famous General Skill, "Mage Soul"!

Mage Soul: Beseech the power of the mage god and increase all party members’ Magic Attack by 50% and movement speed by 20%. Skill effectiveness is affected by Tactics. Skill exclusive to player "Luo River God of the Capital”.

……

We finally heard something about the massive quest that was going on at Wind City and Vanished God City. Clearly, Stranger of Three Lifetimes’ Blazing Hot Lips and Luo River God of the Capital’s Purple Lily were currently in an advantageous position. Not only that, they managed to kill the latter bosses of the quest and become Famous Generals because of it!

Stranger of Three Lifetimes’ Famous General Skill was fine. It increased her own Attack and reduced the enemy’s Attack at the same time. The amount wasn’t much, but the low base could easily be mitigated by a high amount of Tactics. Moreover, the Famous General Skill was similar to He Yi’s Royal Road. The only difference was that it affected only one stat, and its effect was poorer.

As for Luo River God of the Capital’s Mage Soul, if the woman wasn’t the number one mage in China before—which she was—then no one could hope to dethrone her now. Mage Soul increased Magic Attack by 50% and her movement speed by movement speed by 20%. It was obviously the perfect skill for kiting and dishing out massive amounts of magical damage. Purple Lily had never had the upper hand in the fight for supremacy over Wind City, so I supposed this counted as a minor victory for Purple Lily.

Unfortunately, I heard that Luo River God of the Capital was in a bad mood lately. It was because Candlelight Shadow kept cursing her with Ghost God Prophecy and running away every time they bumped into each other, causing her to die and lose a couple of levels in the last half a month. That was why her leveling speed had slowed drastically recently. Otherwise, I don’t think I would be able to replace her as the highest-leveled player in China.

……

The light screen shone brightly at this moment, and the moment everyone had been waiting for had finally arrived—

System Announcement: All players, the tenth monster wave led by the Level 155 Immortal Rank boss "Coldblade the Infinite Storm" has crossed the spatial bridge created using the Purgatory Dragon Scepter!

……

"Fuck…" Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. "Fuck! I thought Coldblade the Infinite Storm would be a Heaven Rank boss at best, but Immortal? That’s two ranks above God Dancer! How the hell are we going to fight him?"

I was just as speechless as he was. "Simple: We don’t. The NPCs will handle it for us. We just barely took down God Dancer, so it’s suicidal to even attempt this boss. That being said, maybe we can find a way to claim ownership of the boss through the NPCs somehow. Everything is worth it if we can get even one Immortal-grade item..."

Gui Guzi laughed loudly. "Yeah! Give me an Immortal-grade metal armor and shield, and I swear I can solo all 40k players in Candle Dragon myself!"

High Fighting Spirits: "Of course you would, that’s two Immortal-grade equipment versus a truck load of Purple Gold–grade or even Dark Gold–grade equipment. You’re so shameless sometimes…"

Gui Guzi smiled. "I’m just kidding. To be honest, I don’t think I could beat Candlelight Shadow even if I had an Immortal-grade shield. That bastard is just too skillful. Boss Broken Halberd is probably the only one in the entire guild who can fight him on equal footing."

Li Chengfeng nodded strongly. "You’re right, Candlelight Shadow is absolutely a top-class player. There are probably less than 5 players in all of China who can threaten him, with Lu Chen and Lin Yixin being the greatest of them all. Well, I suppose I count as a threat to Candlelight Shadow too, albeit just barely…"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: "No you don’t…"

Li Chengfeng: "Fuck you, I’ll work hard to get there okay…"