At the hotel’s cafe.

I was enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea and browsing the internet using the notebook provided by the hotel itself. Chaos Moon was also sitting on the opposite side of the table and looking up the latest information of the game.

Right now, surviving the next few days was my topmost priority. I might have killed 30+ Descent of the One Hundred Gods players, but there were still countless others who were waiting for me to show up. Moreover, they had finally grown smart enough to stick together in large groups. Any encounter where I couldn’t break away whenever I felt like it was a dangerous one, and in Final Duel Valley Resurrection Art didn’t work, so I only had one chance to live.

……

"Hmm?"

Chaos Moon suddenly let out a cry of surprise and said, "Lu Chen, check the China server forums right now! There’s new news!!"

I did as she said while asking, "What is it?"

She answered, "Gui Guzi chased Sword Lord of Jianghu’s players all the way to the edge of Floating Ice City’s map. It’s been 24 hours since the slaughter began, and the beautiful bastard still isn’t done with them, going so far as to camp bodies and graveyards. Not only had Sword Lord of Jianghu lost their territory, many of them dropped over 10 levels at least. Three hours ago, Now and Forever escaped to Thunder Mountain Range and entered Elephant City’s domain, and…"

"And you don’t need to tell me any more since I’m reading it right now…"

A big, red title glowed through my screen: "Gui Guzi’s 50000 elite Bloody Mercenaries were ambushed by the number one guild of Elephant City, Dark Clouds, at Thunder Mountain Range. After two hours of fighting, Gui Guzi and all his men succumbed to Dark Clouds’ elite cavalry and drew a new page in the blood feud between the China server and the India server.

……

I looked up at Chaos Moon with a deep frown. "How did Dark Clouds Sorrow know exactly where and when to catch Little Gui and Sword Lord of Jianghu? And where did he find the courage to attack Little Gui without hesitation? The Dragonlight Cavalry and Cyan Tiger Cavalry have incredible mobility, so there’s no way they could figure out their exact location just via in-game scouting, unless…"

Chaos Moon’s eyes suddenly lit up. "Are you suggesting that Now and Forever is in cahoots with the players of Elephant City?"

"Mn, it has to be it." I fell into thought for a moment before continuing, "Now and Forever is Tang Long’s in-game aide. If the bastard could cut a deal with freaking Japan, he definitely could cut a deal with the high-level executives of India’s gaming industry as well. What worries me now is the possibility of Elephant City attacking our main cities from the southeast. It’ll be incredibly troublesome if they do."

"Isn’t the way blocked by Thunder Mountain Range?"

"Girl, Thunder Mountain Range is an inanimate object. It was always a matter of time before human ingenuity bested it…" I shook my head at her naivete.

While saying this, I took out my phone and called Gui Guzi’s number.

Two tones later, Gui Guzi accepted my call and said in a very agitated tone, "Bo… boss Broken Halberd, haha, I er… sorry I didn’t call you sooner. I was afraid that you would yell at me. Wuh… Why are you calling me at this time?"

I replied in a quiet tone, "You sure did a lot of things while I was gone, Little Gui. Not only did you split the guild in half, you even made Eve cry. There’ll be hell to pay when I return to the guild, you hear me?"

Gui Guzi laughed nervously. "Haha, ha, it’s… it’s not all my fault? B-boss Broken Halberd, how are you doing in Xinjiang? And are you still doing okay in Final Duel Valley?"

I snorted once before replying, "I’m doing okay. You, though, are in a big load of trouble. Why did you let yourself be goaded into entering Elephant City domain? Were you trying to commit suicide?"

Gui Guzi’s tone immediately turned severe when he heard this. "Hmph! I guarantee you that shameless Now and Forever is in cahoots with Elephant City! At least a hundred thousand Sword Lord of Jianghu’s players are still hiding in foreign territory, and there’s no way to find out what those fuckers are planning."

I said, "For now, you should catch some rest and lead the Bloody Mercenaries to Daybreak City, the border city of Floating Ice City, later. You can grind there until something happens. I have a suspicion that Elephant City is going to make a move soon. There’s no way they would let go after their failure during the War of Purple Grape City."

"Mn, got it. But Boss Broken Halberd, you…" Gui Guzi swallowed before continuing, "Red Maple had God Domain’s elites block the way at White Rose Fortress to prevent any China player from reentering their domain, so I was planning to lead Bloody Mercenaries across Sky Ridge and save you tomorrow. If I go to Daybreak City now, what will happen to you?"

I smiled. "Don’t worry about me, I’m doing fairly okay in Final Duel Valley. In fact, I prefer that I’m the only one fighting in Final Duel Valley. I’m already heartbroken from Chengfeng, Little Rain and Diamond Dust dropping to Level 0, I cannot possibly allow my brothers and sisters in Bloody Mercenaries to suffer the same fate as well."

Gui Guzi replied, "Alright. I’ll log into the game and inform them of your decision."

"Good…"

……

I hung up. After another moment of rest, Chaos Moon and I returned to our respective rooms.

At 7 pm sharp, I logged into the game and fought Purple Grape City’s players until 11 pm. During this time, I kept changing locations so that the enemy could never pinpoint me exactly. Thanks to all the players I killed, my level skyrocketed to 204, and the Ancient Divine Dragon gained a huge amount of experience as well. I also made huge progress in evolving the Purple Ying Sword.

I went to bed at 12 am sharp, but before that I made a call to He Yi and Lin Yixin each. They both cried. Lin Yixin said in a sobbing tone that she missed me a lot, and that she wanted to fly to Xinjiang and meet me. I had to console her for a moment before she finally calmed down. He Yi sounded a lot calmer than Lin Yixin. In fact, she kept consoling me and informing me that she had made some headway regarding the investigation of Tang Long. She still cried at the end of the call though. It had been many days since we last saw each other, and now I was nowhere closer to getting back home. If that wasn’t enough, the guild was even split in half. She had suffered too much already.

……

The next day, very early in the morning, I got up, ate breakfast, and logged back into the game. It was time for another life-and-death showdown in Final Duel Valley!

Swhoosh!

After I appeared in the NPC camp, I crawled out of my tent, repaired my equipment and summoned the Phantom Wolf King and Armored Ice Qilin Horse. Then, I returned to Final Duel Valley.

Thud thud thud…

Dew scattered as the Armored Ice Qilin Horse’ hooves trampled over the grass it settled on. The moment I entered Final Duel Valley, I felt like I caught a whiff of blood stench. The soil of this ground was drenched in way too much blood, and I myself had lost count of the number of experts I killed. All I could say was that the Purple Ying Sword was most certainly bloodied to the bone.

First things first, I used Earth Escape and slowly snuck my way forward. Just like last time, the plan was to find players belonging to Descent of the One Hundred Gods and fuck them up real good. Why? Because they are the biggest threat, duh!

However, the valley turned out to be unusually restless today. I saw a troop of cavalry galloping across a clearing, and a ton of foot soldiers running at full speed as well. One of them wielded a bow, and he shouted, "Move faster, Hirata-kun! A power troop of Chinese cavalry is assaulting our forces! We need to reinforce them now!"

……

I shuddered from head to toe. Chinese cavalry? Who could they be? Where did they find the balls to enter Final Duel Valley at this time? This goddamned map is crawling with Purple Grape City players right now!

Whoosh!

I abruptly burst out of the ground and ran at max speed just like the Purple Grape City players. I then flung the Purple Ying Sword through the brambles between us and killed both plants and the dozen of archers and mages. They never even knew how they died, much less discovered me. Coiling Dragon Revolution had an incredible attack range after all.

I continued running after I caught the returning Purple Ying Sword. No matter who this cavalry troop belonged to, they had to be related to me in some way.

Thanks to Dark Pupils, I spotted two assassins who were running in stealth. They hurriedly turned around when they noticed me, but they were incapable of withstanding my attack and died in just two swings. I went on to kill another four archers before they even got the chance to ambush me. It seemed that Purple Grape City’s players still didn’t realize that their camouflage or stealth were completely useless against my Dark Pupils.

Boom!

The moment I burst out of the forest, I saw a troop of cavalry exiting the canyon at high speed. They’re… Snowy Cathaya’s Kui Dragon Cavalry?

"Die!"

A delicate-looking but fit figure rushed toward a group of enemies and cut them all down with Ice Flame Slash. She didn’t linger and led her troops straight toward the exit of the canyon. Beneath her, the Moonchaser Tiger roared.

"Yiyi!"

I yelled at her, but my voice was drowned out by the noises. She never heard me, and she eventually escaped with the Kui Dragon Cavalry.

"It’s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand! He’s here too! Kill him!"

The Japanese players quickly discovered and encircled me. I had no choice but to give up chasing after Lin Yixin and cut down the enemy as I withdrew. After I found a suitable opening, I outran my pursuers with the Armored Ice Qilin Horse, slipped underground using Earth Escape, and avoided the heat for the moment.

……

I sat down quietly at the edge of a mountain rock. The Phantom Wolf King let out a soft whine before putting its head-on top of my thigh. Right now, it was the only company I had.

It was at this moment a couple of Japanese players stopped for a rest at a nearby pine tree. It was an axe-wielding berserker, an archer and a priest. They seemed to be very close to each other, and they were chatting among themselves—

"It’s the seventh time already…" the archer said quietly.

The berserker said, "They seem to be looking for something. They wouldn’t have charged in and out of the canyon 7 times in a row otherwise. What on earth is it?"

The priest shivered in realization. "Could it be… they’re looking for that god of slaughter, Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand?"

The archer nodded. "Mn, I heard that their guild leader is China’s famous Fruit Knife Goddess and Beautiful Little Pepper. She… seems to be Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand’s lover. That is why she sacrificed many troops to break through our defense line at White Rose Fortress and came all the way here to look for him…"

The berserker sighed. "Seven times, man. Sure, she killed a lot of us in the process, but it’s not like we didn’t hit back. She must have lost at least a thousand high-level cavalrymen already. Is it really worth it? Sigh… I can die happy if I ever find a woman who’ll fight for me like this…"

……

My eyes turned blurry as I leaned against the rock. You dumb girl, why did you go this far? Is it just to distract part of the enemy forces for me?