The next day around noon.

Swhoosh!

There was a flash of blue light, and the last Rare mount vanished from my view and appeared in my bag. There were almost no red dots left on the entire map. With this, I could finally say that our party had conquered the entire Dragonlight Canyon, and the journey was a very rewarding one. Not only did we gain a bunch of levels and a ton of top-tier equipment, my bag was filled with Sealing Stones containing Dragonlight Armored Horses. I felt happy just looking at them.

……

Despite our prior agreement, the girls slept well past 5 am before they finally woke up and joined me. They looked like they had a full recharge, while I looked like I had worked as a miner at a Shanxi coal mine for half a year. Suffice it to say, my complexion looked quite unhealthy. I lowered my Cyan Netherworld Sword and sat down next to a dead Dragonlight Armored Horse.

"You must be very tired." He Yi climbed down her mount and walked up to me with clear concern in her eyes. She put her hands on my shoulders as if she wanted to give me a massage, but of course I couldn’t feel a thing through my thick metal armor. I would be ecstatic to enjoy a little bit of hand service from my beautiful guild leader if this wasn’t the case, if you get what I mean.

"Mn, it’s okay. I’ll live…" I replied with a tired expression. "At least we got all the Rare mounts, and without you girls I managed to grind a lot of EXP…"

That’s right. After grinding the minibosses like crazy for the entire night, I had leveled up twice and reached Level 159. In Sky City, I continued to lead far, far ahead of everyone, but in China, I was only the third highest-leveled player. China was full of godlike players after all. The first place was claimed by Luo River God of the Capital, and the second place was claimed by God’s Dance.

Giggling a little and leaning on my back in an affectionate manner, He Yi asked, "Mn, our efforts for the past three days hadn’t gone to waste… so, how many Dragonlight Armored Horses did you capture in total?"

I glanced at her before smiling. "2001. Not a bad number, right?"

He Yi simply smiled at me.

Murong Mingyue commented, "It’s pretty good. This means our guild will have a total of 2001 Dragonlight Cavalrymen. It is an ace cavalry for sure at this stage of the game!"

I nodded. "Yes, but let’s make it 2000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen instead of 2001. Gotta round up the number, you see."

"What do you want to do with the last Sealing Stone then?"

"Give it to Thirteen. Bloody Mercenaries is our subguild and my ‘headquarters’, and Thirteen is the guild leader of Bloody Mercenaries. It’s a bad look for everyone if the guild leader himself can’t get a good mount. Also, considering how stringent the requirement to enter Dragonlight Canyon is, it is entirely possible that the 2001 Dragonlight Cavalrymen we got will be the only Dragonlight Cavalry in the entire game, so having Thirteen ride a Dragonlight Armored Horse will steady our players’ morale and deepen our relationship with Bloody Mercenaries even further."

"Yes, you’re right. We’ll do as you say then!"

He Yi rose to her feet and gave me on the shoulder. Then, she said with a smile, "Alright, there’s only 3 minutes left on the clock, so you might as well log out sooner, eat some food and catch some ZZZzzzZZZzzz. Mingyue, Beiming and me will take care of everything, so sleep as much as you like! I’ll wake you up for dinner or supper later!"

"Okay!"

I gave He Yi the 2000 Sealing Stones and Dragonlight Shatter before saying seriously, "The Dragonlight Cavalry is to become a symbol of our longevity and the face of our power in the future, so make sure you choose its riders carefully. It will suck if some shady guy runs away with them."

He Yi nodded and smiled reassuringly at me. "Yes, I understand what you mean. We’ll make our pick from the Top 2500 players of the fighter ranking Chaos Moon made and narrow it down further to the people Li Chengfeng, High Fighting Spirits, Chaos Moon and so on trust the most. In general, we’ll only pick loyal friends who trust each other enough to give their life for the other person, so don’t worry!"

"Alright, sounds good…" I took out a return scroll and said one last time, "It’s time to log out!"

"Mn!"

We left before the countdown was up. Everyone turned into white light and disappeared after tearing the return scrolls.

Swhoosh!

My vision brightened. After leaving the dark, gloomy map that was Dragonlight Canyon for good, I couldn’t but feel a sense of endearment toward this bright city of many races.

The first thing I did was to run back to Air Force One and unload all the top-tier equipment in my bag. I left my NPC, White Fox, to set the price and organize the items herself while I went to repair my equipment and stock up on potions. Because I had to grind Dragonlight Canyon on my own last night, I had to consume all my Rank 9 Saint Spirit Potions and even one Rank 10 Saint Spirit Potion to stay alive. It was necessary, but it was a waste nonetheless.

My brain was fully overloaded by that point. I logged out of the game, ate some food and returned to my room. I fell asleep the moment my head hit the pillow.

……

"Bastard!"

In my dreams, I woke to a dreamy voice and found myself standing amidst a forest of withered trees. A beautiful girl wearing a Level 20 Dark Steel–grade metal armor and a blue cape and wielding a shining rapier was glaring at me with a pout. Her purple pupils were astoundingly beautiful, and her gaze seemed capable of befuddling the mind. I couldn’t help but lose myself in it.

"Yiyi…" I called out to her hoarsely. My throat felt very dry, and my voice didn’t sound like my own at all.

It was at that moment I realized that my body wasn’t really my body. Somehow, I had turned back into a skeleton covered in simple armor again. Fuck, how did I turn back into a full Night Creature? This appearance is so ugly...

The girl in front of me—the name Wind Fantasy hanging proudly above her head—pointed her sword at me and declared, "Frost Mound belongs to the Lins starting today, and that includes you! From now on, you will follow my surname and call yourself Lin Halberd Sinks Into Sand! If anyone tries to bully you, just give them my name!"

I couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of fondness toward her. Smiling playfully at her, I said, "Okay, I’m yours from now on. May I know what your name is?"

"My… my name is…" The girl whined and searched around for a bit, but for some reason she couldn’t seem to recall her name. A while later, she simply huffed at me and said, "My name is my business? Why do you want to know my private details anyway? Are you plotting something nefarious?"

I replied, "If you don’t have a name, then can I call you babe instead?"

"Babe…" She turned as red as an autumn apple, but she tossed her sword to the ground in front of her and declared with determination, "Okay, fine, you may address me as… babe from now on…"

I couldn’t help but hug my stomach and laugh at her cuteness. Suddenly, I noticed that there was only a pair of pelvis beneath my armor and nothing else! I immediately groaned in despair. What the hell is this??

Suddenly, the scene shifted to a new one. A beautiful girl was standing under the moon and smiling at me. Her outline looked incredibly smooth under the moonlight, and she was clad in high-level battle armor. The exposed parts of her legs looked long and white, and her cape was fluttering lightly behind her.

I stretched out to grab her as a hoarse voice escaped my throat, "Yiyi… Lin Yixin… where are you going? We promised to eat together everyday! Don’t leave, I’ll scorn you for the rest of your days if you do…"

Lin Yixin suddenly wept, tears misting her eyes and sliding down her cheeks in large droplets. Shaking like a leaf, she cried, "It’s too late…"

The world around us suddenly darkened. The darkness slowly devoured Lin Yixin until she was gone completely, leaving behind only the memory of her tearful face in my heart.

……

"Ah…"

I abruptly woke up from my dream and looked outside the window. It was morning, and the autumn wind was blowing frantically outside. Had I fallen asleep for an entire day and night?

My forehead was covered in sweat, but I forced myself to disbelieve my earlier nightmare. Lin Yixin might have left me for now, but I knew she would come back to me one day because I missed her, and maybe she missed me as well.

I wiped my forehead before climbing to my feet. I had no idea how much sweat I had excreted last night, only that my entire body was sticky with it. I put on some clothes and walked out of the room, intending to catch a bath first before starting the day.

I saw He Yi and Beiming Xue washing strawberries when I went out. Beiming Xue immediately greeted me with a smile when she saw me, "You’re finally up, big bro. You were asleep for over 20 hours, and we couldn’t even wake you up last night…"

He Yi said, "Should I order some food while you take a bath?"

"Sure!" I gave her a nod before asking, "Did anything big happen in the game while I was out?"

"I guess?" He Yi answered, "For starters, we’ve distributed all 2000 Sealing Stones to our players, so the title of the most elite cavalry in the entire server now officially belongs to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits and more are all Dragonlight Cavalrymen now!"

"As it should be, hehe!"

I laughed. "Alright, it looks like our guild is officially done with preparations. We will show the world what we’re made of once the Nation Wars begin!"

Beiming Xue said, "Oh right, there’s been some updates regarding the Nation Wars, but before that you really should take a bath, big bro! You stink!"

"I got it!"

I entered the bathroom and turned on the shower. An immensely refreshing feeling overcame my senses as hot water washed over me. It looked like Murong Mingyue had woken up as well since I could hear her speaking from outside the bathroom.

……

After I was done bathing and putting on a new set of clothes, I entered the living hall and sat down next to Beiming Xue, "So, what are these updates regarding the Nation Wars?"

Beiming Xue said, "Eh, why don’t you tell him, Sister He Yi? You’re the guild leader, your words have more weight than mine…"

He Yi: "..."

Me: "Well?"

"Fine…" He Yi let out a helpless chuckle before starting. "It’s not good news though. As you are already aware, the three main cities of China are situated at the center of Heavenblessed Continent and titled the Center. There are 8 super main cities—three from America, and one each from Germany, France, England, Korea and Vietnam—directly to our north, and maybe it’s because China performed too well in Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief, but they have all entered an alliance called ‘Northern Alliance’ and posted the details on the international forums. Their objective is to drive all Chinese players from the Center and conquer it…"

I couldn’t help but gasp. "Holy shit, this is serious!"