Staring coldly at the ground from above, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch said with a growl, "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has come to Vanished God City to cause trouble, is it? Very well, don’t cry to me when we send every last one of you packing! I, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, am a man of my words!"

Gui Guzi retorted with a wave of his spear, "Bullshit!"

I smiled. "Time to retreat, guys. At any rate, this city will change hands when the day is over!"

I turned my mount around and left with the Cyan Tiger Cavalry after leaving behind the ominous threat. It felt pretty great to slaughter the fourth subguild of Hall of Immortality right before Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch, Rose Thorn and Emperor’s Equal’s eyes without them being able to do anything.

……

I counted our losses. In total, we lost less than a hundred Cyan Tiger Cavalrymen to annihilate a subguild of 5000 players; almost a flawless assault. It was obvious how much stronger we were compared to them.

As we reentered the edge of the forest, we saw a sea of players appearing from behind the woods. An ancient sword was floating on their shoulder. Our main force had finally arrived. In total, our main guild and 10 subguilds added up to almost 100000 players. There were a lot more of us than before for sure.

He Yi was clad in a snow-white battle robe and riding the Snow Domain Windchaser as usual. Her weapon was the Level 145 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon, Blade of the Earthen Soul. Not only was she ridiculously powerful and tanky, being a super high-level player meant that her resistances were pretty impressive as well. She was definitely one of the best close-range players of our guild.

"You’ve arrived, boss." I rode up to her with a greeting.

"Mn." He Yi gave me a nod of acknowledgment before gazing at the city. "Looks like Hall of Immortality is prepared for a siege from the start. Their numbers are high, and there are arrow towers all around the city. This Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch must’ve splashed a ton of gold to build them. Scary…"

I smiled reassuringly. "Don’t worry, they’re just paper tigers, and it’s not like we have to be the rock that tests the waters. Let’s save our strength and leave the grunt work to the other guilds. We’ll take down the city in one mighty swoop when there’s 5 hours left on the clock."

He Yi asked with a smile, "But we’re here to assist Baidicheng, right? It feels a bit disingenuous to just wait around and do nothing."

"Not a problem. I’ll help them attack the city." I patted my chest confidently. "I promise I’ll get in and out alive!"

Gui Guzi immediately chimed in. "Boss Broken Halberd, let me join you!"

"Sure!"

Xu Yang said, "It’s a shame I haven’t done my sixth promotion yet, or I might be joining you two!"

I checked Xu Yang’s level and noted that he was now Level 144. It was pretty amazing all things considered, so I gave him an encouraging nod before replying, "It’s fine. Remember, we’re just assisting Baidicheng in attacking the city, we are not the main attackers. Regardless, if we successfully take over the city and kill enough enemies, the system will give us a level reward. The 10 hours we will have spent here won’t be for nothing."

"Mn!"

I also checked the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City in passing. I was still at Level 150, but the second-placed ranker, Lin Yixin, was already Level 149. Clearly, she hadn’t slept a wink last night.

"Yiyi…" I murmured in dejection.

Seemingly noticing my thoughts, Beiming Xue walked up to me and pulled my arm comfortingly. "Don’t be sad, big bro. I’m sure Sister Lin Yixin would very much prefer to be with you if she could. I heard that she, Purple Marquis, and Shadow Chanel went away to complete a big quest. The reason she’s trying so hard to prove herself is because she doesn’t want to be looked down by her father, and… because she doesn’t want to let you down, I think…"

"She doesn’t want to let me down?"

"Yeah!" Beiming Xue’s eyes shone intelligently as she spoke. She then moved closer to my ears and whispered, "Girls are strange creatures, you know. No ordinary girl can be your girlfriend, and Sister Lin Yixin knows that. The reason she’s working so hard is to become a woman who’s worthy of you. Don’t you think so?"

I shivered; touched by what Beiming Xue told me. I gripped the Cyan Netherworld Sword tightly and declared, "Beiming, from this point onward, every battle I fight in will be half for Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and our dream, and half for Yiyi. I refuse to let her down and become the man Lin Xiao thinks me to be!"

"Mn. Do your best, big bro!"

I felt much better after my little sis consoled me. At the very least, the gloom and doom hanging over my head didn’t feel as thick as before. Lin Yixin might have vanished temporarily from my life, but I could sense that she was hard at work somewhere. She must be missing me as much as I am missing her, right?

……

It was at this moment a figure emerged from atop a hill and ran toward us. His movement speed was amazing, and he was clad in a set of crimson gold metal armor. He wielded a double-edge sword with draconic runes engraved into its body, and ancient runes floating just above the surface. Clearly, it was no ordinary sword. The line of text floating above his head was very familiar to everyone—

Legendary Brave LV-148 Platinum Dragon Warrior

Guild: Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls

Position: Corps Commander

……

"Hahaha, finally back from your adventure, Li?" High Fighting Spirits walked up to him with a laugh. He looked clearly impressed when he saw Li Chengfeng’s level and clicked his tongue. "God damn, it’s only been two days since we last met! How did you gain so many levels so quickly? You must have completed a super main quest or something, right? Hmm, you changed your armor and your weapon too?"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun walked up to Li Chengfeng and started rubbing his hands all over Li Chengfeng’s metal armor and shoulder armor. "Feels good…"

Li Chengfeng immediately jumped a few steps backward and said warily, "What the fuck dude, get your hands off me!"

The dragon warrior then walked up to He Yi and me and greeted us with a smile. "Sorry for being late, guild leaders. As you can see, I was away for training. Did I miss anything?"

I shrugged. "Nah, the battle hasn’t even started yet! By the way, it looks like your new equipment and weapon are pretty good. How good are they?"

Li Chengfeng let out a proud chuckle before answering, "I got this 4-star Earth grade chest armor from a black dragon, and the sword was a quest reward. It’s called ‘Blade of Ghastly Wind’, and it’s a 5-star Outstanding Earth-grade weapon with 1420 max Attack, +30% attack speed, +55% attack power and +5% chance to ignore the target’s Defense. Pretty impressive, right?"

Both He Yi and I were stunned by the stats he revealed. This Blade of Ghastly Wind was in no way inferior to He Yi’s Blade of the Earthen Soul, so of course it was amazing. It looked like Li Chengfeng got incredibly lucky during his solo adventure. He was much stronger than before.

"Chengfeng, I think you should continue grinding as you’re doing until you’re Level 150. We’re in dire need of powerful mounted players right now."

Li Chengfeng waved his sword carelessly. "It’s fine, I’ll burn the midnight oil right after this territory war is over. Speaking of which, aren’t you the one who’s slowed down recently? Beauty Lin is about to catch up to you, you know."

I smiled helplessly before answering, "There has been some stuff I needed to deal with recently, and I don’t really need to grind higher than Level 150 right now. Also, if I’m lucky enough to learn the Great Earth Transformation, I have a feeling I’ll become incredibly powerful."

"Of course. When are we attacking the city?"

"There’s no hurry. Let’s wait for an opportunity to present itself."

"Okay!"

……

And so, the main bulk of our army waited at the edge of the forest while us executives took hold of a high ground to observe the battlefield. Someone was going to lose their cool and take the lead eventually, so we were in no hurry whatsoever.

Beneath the walls, we could see a bunch of riders patrolling the area. A short time later, a new army emerged from the distance, and they were all riders. Surprisingly, all of their mounts were earth dragons. Although the earth dragons looked pretty ugly, they were still dragons for sure.

"Wow, Mad Dragon did something amazing this time…" I smiled. "They actually managed to assemble a group of dragon knights! Look, there’s got to be 2000 of them at least. It looks like they’re aiming to take over the world…"

He Yi couldn’t stop herself from giggling. "You call them dragon knights? Really?"

Li Chengfeng explained, "The mount they’re riding is called ‘Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon’. Legend says that it’s a cross-breed between a Corrosive Lizard and a Numemon, although I have no idea how it got categorized as a dragon. The reason Roaming Dragon pushed to capture these Corrosive Armor Earth Dragons and make a cavalry troop out of them is because they fit well with their guild name, ‘Mad Dragon’. In reality, they’re subpar Level 120 Dark Gold–grade mounts and way weaker than our Cyan Tiger Cavalry. The name is literally all they got going for."

Eighteen Steeds You and Yun said while rubbing his palms eagerly, "She looks pretty beautiful though. I wish I could ride her myself!"

I shot him an incredulous look. "What is wrong with your sense of aesthetics? That Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon’s head looks like a toad’s! You seriously want to ride something that disgusting?"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun immediately corrected me. "Nah, you got me wrong. I’m talking about Coldmoon Rose."

"Fuck…"

He Yi: "Fuck…"

Li Chengfeng: “What the fuck!!!"

……

With Coldmoon Rose sitting in his lap, Roaming Dragon urged his Corrosive Armor Earth Dragon forward and led his army all the way to the walls. After he greeted a couple of guild leaders whose guilds we couldn’t even be bothered to remember, he declared in a loud voice, "The main guild and 19 subguilds of Mad Dragon are here! We are over 150k players strong, and our Earth Dragon Cavalry makes up a third of that! I see that some of you don’t even have 50k players! Who do you think is the better choice to lead this battle, us or you?"

A while later, an assassin guild leader with a pointed mouth and thin face said, "Fine, Mad Dragon can lead the attack. You guys attack the east gate while the rest of us feint or hard push the other gates. Let’s try to breach the city within an hour, hehe! However, Hall of Immortality, Rose of the Holy Domain, and Throne Seeker are no slouches, so you’d better be careful!"

"Worry not!" Roaming Dragon declared with a raise of eyebrows. "Mad Dragon ain’t no vegans, you know? We’re the 17th strongest guild on the Guild Ranking!"

He then turned around, raised his spear tall and shouted, "Brothers and sisters of Mad Dragon! Form your lines, advance slowly, and ready the siege weapons and escalades! We’ll be attacking the east side of Immortality City in ten minutes!"

……

Mad Dragon’s 100000-man army started swarming into the empty space on the east side of the city and preparing their assault. Their army was so huge that many guilds automatically gave up the best siege positions to Mad Dragon.

Creak…

But to everyone’s surprise, the eastern gate of Immortality City suddenly opened on its own. A female knight with a cold expression on her face pointed her sword at Mad Dragon and cried out, "Purple Thunder Cavalry, charge!"

The ground shook like an earthquake as Rose Thorn and several thousand Purple Thunder Cavalrymen slammed right into Mad Dragon’s army. Caught completely by surprise, Mad Dragon lost a ton of escalades, catapults, and other siege weapons before they could mount a response. Roaming Dragon’s face was green as he stared at the unstoppable cavalry. "This shameless bitch! She didn’t even give us a warning!"