The guild channel exploded into chatter after the system announcement—

Xu Yang: “Finally, the third territory of Sky City has appeared. This will be lively…:

High Fighting Spirits: “What should we do? Should we tackle this territory for The Monarch Descends?”

Gui Guzi: “The new territory is spawning in the west, and both Snowy Cathaya and our territory are in the east. It’s just too far. Even if we managed to tackle the territory for The Monarch Descends, I doubt that they could hold it for long. Plus, Lu Chen made a bet with Warsky regarding this territory when he came to the ASUS club to support us. We would be breaking our word if our players appeared anywhere close to the third territory…”

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun: “It’s simple, just send all our elites to Bloody Mercenaries and have Bloody Mercenaries attack the city!”

But Li Chengfeng shot down the suggestion. “That’s way too obvious, not to mention that everyone knows that Bloody Mercenaries is a part of our guild. We’ll be called a sore loser to the end of days if we pull something like this. Lu Chen, your thoughts? You must have a plan already, don’t you?”

I nodded. “Well, it’s unrealistic to think that we can send Bloody Mercenaries to the territory and not be criticized for it. There are several paths that lead to the west side of Sky City, right? My plan is to form a couple of battle lines along these paths and kill any Warsky Alliance player that tries to go through. Warsky shamelessly broke his word and challenged the ASUS gaming club in real life, so we’ll give him a taste of his own medicine and intercept their players at the entrance. Let’s see what he has to say after this!”

Li Chengfeng couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s a great plan! Warsky can’t say we broke our promise if we kill his men right outside the west gate! It will also greatly reduce the pressure on The Monarch Descends and Snowy Cathaya… Tsk tsk, as usual, Lu Chen is the only one who can come up with fucked up tactics like this…”

Me: “Fuck you…”

……

I immediately opened the friend list, sought Gui Guzi’s ID and sent him a message: “How are the preparations at Cyan Tiger Forest going, Little Gui? Is everyone ready for battle?”

“Yes!”

Gui Guzi replied quickly, “Boss Broken Halberd, there are almost ten thousand of us here sweeping the map at breakneck speed. I even transferred some high rank mounted players from the subguild to the main guild to make our new cavalry. For now, the final count of our Cyan Tiger Cavalry is 3097, hehe! I guarantee that they are all elites!”

Pleased, I said, “Very well. I want you, Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, and the others to meet up at the forest edge just beneath the west gate of Sky City and gather our men there. Since the 3000 Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen have fast movement speed, I want them to move to the west forest and lay in hiding first with you as the troop leader. While you’re waiting, try and scout out the coordinates of Warsky Alliance’s main force with our assassins. The rest of us foot soldiers will show up as quickly as we can. It is rare to run into a reliable ally like The Monarch Descends, so we absolutely cannot let them down, no matter what!”

“Mn, I know. We won’t disappoint Boss Broken Halberd or Ling Xueshang!”

“Good. Let’s go!”

……

I spent some time organizing things inside the guild for a bit until I finally looked up and saw Lin Yixin and Cute Little Naughty staring at me.

“So? What is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls’ plan?” Lin Yixin asked with a smile. “Ling Xueshang contacted me just now. She really wants the third territory, but she’s also aware that it’s too far away from our territory. If they were attacked in the future, we won’t be able to reinforce them immediately, not to mention that the west side is usually camped by enemy guilds like Warsky Alliance, Mad Dragon, Gods of Destruction.”

I licked my lips before replying, “It doesn’t matter. In this case, we act first and think later. Even if we can’t secure the territory, we’re not letting Warsky Alliance take it without a fight. Our best case scenario is Warsky Alliance failing to get the territory. Warsky is too smart, and he’s supported by October Rain. If they were to obtain it, it’d be like a tiger given a pair of wings. The threat they represent is simply too much for us to ignore.”

“Right. I’ve already ordered the guild and the subguilds to assemble and travel together with The Monarch Descends to the west side. What is your battle plan, by the way?”

“We’ll be heading there too!”

“Okay!”

One hand on her waist and the other holding a dagger, Cute Little Naughty asked with a bright smile, “It looks like we ran into something big before we even officially joined the guild. Could this be our chance to perform?”

I shot them a glance and smiled awkwardly. “You? Ahem… to be honest, you are all lacking in equipment and level right now. There’s nothing you can do in a largescale battle like this unless you want to act as cannon fodder. Ask me again when you’re stronger. You’ll have plenty of chances to perform when you become a subguild leader, Naughty.”

“Oh, I see. Okay! We still want to come with you though. We want to see how the clash between the two super guilds, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Warsky Alliance is like!”

“Sure. It’s never a bad idea to broaden your horizons!”

“Mn, mn!” Cute Little Naughty nodded repeatedly before shooting Lin Yixin a glance. Then, she asked, “How old are you in real life, Sister Fantasy? You look really young…”

Lin Yixin smiled a little. “I’m 21. What about you, Naughty?”

“Oh, you really are young. I’m 19, hehe. By the way, do you know who are my three favorite people out of everyone in the CGL Hall of Fame?”

“Who are they?” Lin Yixin asked curiously.

Cute Little Naughty started explaining as if she had done this a hundred times before. “My third most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is Brother Falling Dust. He’s a powerful player in his own right, and although he lost to Candlelight Shadow he didn’t give up on his promise and continued protecting Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls as Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand. Any girl who found a man who would protect her like that would have no regrets for the rest of her life. My second most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is you, Sister Fantasy. I’m pretty sure you’re the most powerful female player in China right now!”

Lin Yixin’s smile was very sweet. “Ohh, thank you. And the last one?”

Longing entered Cute Little Naughty’s eyes as she bit her lips. “My most favorite CGL Hall of Famer is Sister Moonkiss. She is the strongest female assassin of China, and it only took her a short time to reach the level she’s currently at. I’ve always dreamed of becoming a top-tier assassin like her.”

I smiled. “Patience, Naughty. One day, you’ll become as good as Moonkiss, and who knows, Moonkiss herself might even join us one day. When that day comes, hehe, no one will dare to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls don’t have good assassins anymore!”

Lin Yixin glanced at me. “You can talk about recruiting Moonkiss another day. I need to return to the city and head to the west side with my people immediately, or Warsky Alliance will get ahead of us.”

“Mn, okay!”

……

After adding Cute Little Naughty, Cyan Hill, and everyone else in their party to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, member capacity had reached the max again. It was a real pain in the ass to kick someone out of the main guild every time I wanted to add someone. This 10000 member cap was so annoying!

I took out a return scroll and crushed it.

Swhoosh!

After appearing in Sky City, the first thing I did before anything else was to replenish my potions and repair my equipment. Level 143 was as far as I could climb today, and what comes next is the most exhilarating of battles!

Countless players were moving about in Sky City such as those who went to the west gate to teleport to certain locations and prepare for the conquest of the new territory. There were more players who were just buying pots, making parties and grinding like every other day, however. At this point, most players had come to the realization that territories were something only the best of the best guilds could contest for. If they weren’t in guilds like Warsky Alliance, Hegemon Palace, The Monarch Descends, and some others, they would only become cannon fodder if they went, so why bother?

I was about to take off when suddenly, a new announcement rang across Sky City—

Ding~!

System Announcement: All players, please be informed that player “Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch” has submitted the “Vassal Token” and issued a raid on the territory “Dark Moon City” belonging to “Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls” of Sky City, on behalf of their belonging guild “Hall of Immortality” and their allies “Rose of the Holy Domain” and “Throne Seeker”. If they successfully kill all Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players in 10 hours, the raid will be considered successful, and “Hall of Immortality” will take ownership of Dark Moon City!

……

“Fuck…”

I sucked in a deep breath. When it rains, it pours. But how did this happen? Why did three of the strongest guilds in Vanished God City suddenly join forces to attack Dark Moon City?

Everything was happening so quickly that most of our players couldn’t even grasp what just happened—

Li Chengfeng: “These dogshit bastards! They clearly timed this so that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls couldn’t spare the hand to interfere with the conquest of the third territory!”

Xu Yang: “Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain and Throne Seeker are three of the top ten guilds in Vanished God City, and almost everyone in this list is far stronger than the Gods of Destruction led by Dominating Heaven Blade. These guilds have been keeping a low profile, but it’s clear now that they were waiting for us to rank up our city so that they can take it all in one fell swoop!”

Gui Guzi coldly snorted. “Those motherfucking dreamers! They think they can take the city Boss Broken Halberd and Boss Eve have spent so much effort to build up? Over our dead bodies!”

Chaos Moon: “I’m almost certain that Warsky Alliance is the reason the three guilds joined forces and issued a raid against us. October Rain is probably the one who came up with this scheme and forced us to choose between defending Dark Moon City or interfering with the conquest of the third territory. Heck, maybe she’s even plotting to rob both territories from us. After all, the combined strength of the three strongest guilds of Vanished God City is no joke.”

Gui Guzi: “What should we do now, boss Broken Halberd?”

I mulled over the situation carefully. “Little Gui, your task is unchanged. You will lead our cavalry and kill all Warsky Alliance players on sight. Everyone else, teleport back to Dark Moon City now. If we lose this territory, all our efforts for the past month will go to waste, and the foothold we’ve established will begin to crumble.”

Xu Yang, Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon, and everyone else nodded in unison.

……

Swhoosh!

I teleported back to Dark Moon City just like the others. The undead castle was already Rank 6, and there was no way I was letting someone claim our hard work. We will defend Dark Moon City to the death if we have to!