Cyan Earth City and Elephant City worshipped a certain god, and there were people chosen to protect the temple of this god. In other words, the Temple Guard was the India counterpart of the CGL Hall of Fame. They clearly weren’t very good though, or they wouldn’t lose four of their members to Candlelight Shadow and Farewell Song at the same time!

……

Gui Guzi glanced to the north. "What the fuck is going on at Ice River Canton? Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance sure aren’t giving the Indians an easy time!"

Li Chengfeng said, "According to the forums, Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance have arrived at a temporary alliance to carry out an assassination operation. The plan is to kill Cyan Earth City’s Temple Guards and deal a blow to the enemy’s morale. From the looks of it, I think they’ve succeeded…"

"Mn."

I nodded in agreement. "Farewell Song and Candlelight Shadow are both peak experts, so it’s no surprise that they’d be able to take out a Temple Guard or two. This isn’t exactly good news for Candle Dragon or Warsky Alliance, however. It means that they’ve finally run into some actual opposition. I’m sure Candlelight Shadow will experience a headache any time now, hehe."

Next to me, after cutting down a Giant Buck Cavalryman with his sword, Hot and Sour Noodles halted his momentum and said, "The most important thing to note here is that India’s strongest guilds haven’t shown themselves yet. Cyan Beast’s God of War and Breeze and Rain went missing after the flooding of Sunset Basin, and the other super guilds such as Nation Guardian, Flames of War and Dark Clouds haven’t shown their faces as well. If I had to guess, they’ll show up during the ultimate battle."

Suddenly, Hot and Sour Noodles broke into a grin and asked me, "Say, do you want Cyan Beast and Nation Guardian to attack Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance, or do you want them march across Purple Grape City to attack us?"

I answered without hesitation, "I would rather they attacked us!"

"Why?"

"Because Candlelight Shadow and Warsky can’t stop God of War and Breeze and Rain…"

"..."

Hot and Sour Noodles looked surprised by my answer, but he nodded and said, "You don’t pretend to be humble, do you? Well, it’s a bit painful to hear this, but I can’t deny that Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance’s united army is a tad weaker than Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya and Blazing Hot Lips’. You are right. If those super guilds choose to attack the northern army, there’s a high chance they will suffer a loss. With that in mind, it is preferable if they attack us instead!"

Gui Guzi said, "Eh, I don’t care if they lose. In fact, it would be perfect if India’s super guilds spent all their energy taking out Candle Dragon and Warsky Alliance for us, and we take them out afterward to bring this war to a perfect ending!"

I hurriedly interrupted him, "You can’t say that, Little Gui!"

The Undying Knight looked confused. "What? Why?"

I broke into a sudden grin. "It’s just one of those things you can think in your head all you want, but not say it out loud, you get me?"

Gui Guzi laughed in realization. "Fuck!"

Hot and Sour Noodles shook his head in exasperation. "You little brats. Sigh, I so regret not having experiences like yours at your age…"

He Yi suggested as she moved past him, "You can always choose to relive your youth if you want to, uncle…"

Hot and Sour Noodles’ complexion turned purple. "Are you calling me old, President He?"

Beiming Xue interrupted, "We’re old, you’re not…"

Hot and Sour Noodles’ face turned even whiter as he writhed in humiliation. "Ancient Sword’s people are so bad…"

……

The fierce battle on the plains lasted almost 4 hours. It felt like a hunt where we were the hunters and the two top guilds, Asuka Period and Era of Strife, were the prey. In the end, we were able to wipe out the main forces of both guilds, and the total amount of casualties on both sides amounted to almost ten million. At the end of it, there was almost no player left in the entire Swallow Ear Canton!

Undead Hills had also become completely silent as well.

There were bodies, equipment, potions, cards and more everywhere. Gui Guzi and He Yi were currently organizing the men to sweep the battlefield for loot.

Looking cheerful as ever, Hot and Sour Noodles walked up to me and said, "I just got confirmation that Red Maple and God’s Domain had returned to Purple Grape City via Wildfire Plains. Swallow Ear Canton is now more or less a dead city with less than 100k players in it. Are you interested in flattening it yourself?"

I shook my head. "Nope!"

"Oh?"

I faced toward Thirteen and smiled. "Thirteen, please order Bloody Mercenaries and another 5 subguilds to take out Swallow Ear Canton. No need to occupy it, just abandon it immediately. We’re not going to lay claim to the Japan server this time, but we are going to make sure those ambitious wolves have no home to return to. If they like to gamble so much, then we’ll play with them until they have nothing left!"

Du Thirteen laughed heartily before replying, "Very well, I’ll arrange it right away. Oh, can I take Little Gui with me? He commands more respect than me!"

"Sure!"

……

And so, Gui Guzi and a bunch of Bloody Mercenaries cavalry charged toward Swallow Ear Canton. The tier 2 city was more or less done for. There were still nearly 20 million troops on the plains, and super guilds like Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya were present. Even Purple Grape City would be hard-pressed to stop us, much less them.

Speaking of which, according to the Nation War interface, there were less than 20 million Purple Grape City players left in the Nation War. God’s Domain made the right choice to withdraw from Swallow Ear Canton, because there wouldn’t be enough players left to defend Purple Grape City otherwise.

There were 29 hours left on the clock before the end of the Nation War, so I ordered a 5-hour rest considering how long everyone had fought so far. After that, we must occupy Purple Grape City within the next 24 hours, or this would be our loss!

Everyone except Gui Guzi and the players who were attacking Swallow Ear Canton logged out of the game to rest, and the first thing many men did was to rush to the toilet to relieve themselves. It was that or risk bursting a bladder...

……

After I set up the tent and bade Lin Yixin and He Yi goodbye, I logged out of the game and exited my room. I then dragged Chaos Moon to dinner and finished my food—it was lamb paomo tonight—in just ten minutes.

"Aiyo, aiyo! Not so fast, please!"

Chaos Moon grabbed my hand as she tried to keep up with me on her leather high heels. Her hair looked a bit messy tonight, but her long, fair legs attracted the gaze of countless men nonetheless.

"We only have 4 hours left to catch some sleep before the non-stop 24-hour marathon…" I said.

"But I still need to take a bath, put on my make-up, and…"

I stared at her. "You’re practically the spitting image of a panda! How much make-up do you have to put on to cover up dark circles? Also, we’re fighting a war, not attending a marriage interview! Can you kill Red Maple with your eye shadows? Can you kill with eye lines? Can you kill Breeze and Rain with your lip gloss?"

"No…"

Chaos Moon shook her head, but broke into a wide grin and said, "But I can dazzle you with my beauty, double your combat power, and make you kill all the above for me!

I felt like vomiting blood. "Yeah, not really. Come on!"

"I don’t wanna~"

Chaos Moon pretended to struggle and raise her voice a bit, "I don’t wanna go to the hotel with you! You’re a bad person!"

"What the fuck!"

I turned as green as grass the second I heard this. I could see countless youngsters rising to their feet and rolling up their sleeves to save the damsel. Thankfully, Chaos Moon didn’t go overboard with the joke and pressed her cheeks affectionately against my chest before saying, "Just kidding. I was just worried that you would be embarrassed, handsome. Let’s go…"

"And what the fuck should I be embarrassed about exactly? Seriously, you scared the crap out of me…" I sighed.

……

I went to bed immediately after I returned to the hotel. Sleep came to me easily because of how tired I was.

After sleeping for god knows how long, my phone alarm rang and woke me from my slumber. I turned it off, crawled out of bed like a zombie and checked the time. It was very late in Xinjiang right now.

After I took a bath and brushed my teeth, I woke up fully and invited Chaos Moon out for some bread and dinner. After we had replenished ourselves suitably, we logged back into the game!

……

Swhoosh!

A column of riders passed by me as I poked my head out of the flap. They were Chinese players as a matter of course.

At the same time, Hot and Sour Noodles sent me a call request—

"You’re finally up, Lu Chen!"

"Mn. How is it, uncle?"

"Well, Gui Guzi has conquered Swallow Ear Canton and abandoned it already. This means that Purple Grape City is the only main city left in the entire Japan server."

"What about the other battlefields?"

"At Ice River Canton, the northern army fought Cyan Earth City for 9 hours straight, and the total casualty count on both sides is over 30 million. Right now we are slightly ahead of the enemy, and Candlelight Shadow and Warsky are moving to attack Fallen Moon Ridge. If they successfully overcome the map, they’ll be able to march to Purple Grape City and meet up with us. We’ll be practically unstoppable then. At any rate, we’re in no hurry right now. We still have 24 hours, and the Japan server doesn’t have many effective forces left. We’ve also taken out almost all of their elite cavalry!"

"Very good! That’s good to hear!"

"不過……"

"However…"

"Yes?"

"While we were offline and taking our rest just now, some of the guilds grew impatient and decided to travel across Wildfire Plains to Purple Grape City themselves. However, they were ambushed by Elephant City’s top guild, Dark Clouds, and Flowing Cloud and her assassins. As a result, the enemy killed almost 7 million at the cost of 1 million…"

I clenched my fists and raged, "What the fuck were those bastards thinking!?"

Hot and Sour Noodles shrugged. "Youngsters are often overly confident and impulsive. Nothing we can do about it. Moreover, this is a game, and no one plays a game to be ordered around all the time. If they want to commit suicide, let them. Who can stop them even if they really set their minds to it?"

I nodded. "You make a good point. Well, it’s not like we’re relying on them to launch the main attack anyway. As long as the super guilds are safe, the invasion of Purple Grape City is still on."

"Yes, I agree."

……

I stepped out of the tent and summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse. After my players had all come online, the bards set to buffing our players, and the Dragonlight Cavalry and Dragonlight Archers stood by for orders. It was time!

The first thing Li Chengfeng asked after rushing out of his tent was, "Dude, I heard that Dark Clouds, the number one guild of Elephant City finally made a move?"

"Yep, they were at Wildfire Plains. I’m expecting to run into them in a moment…"

"Hell yeah! I can’t wait!"

"Me too!"

……

While we were getting ready, we gazed toward fiery red plains covered in maple trees and other similar plants. This was the map that had given birth to Red Maple’s prided Wildfire Riders.