1549

My drowsiness was chased away instantly. I abruptly sat up on the bed and answered the call, "Skip the pleasantries and tell me the situation straight away, Chengfeng!"

Li Chengfeng answered, "Yeah. The Chaotic 27 have mobilized their troops!"

"To attack us, am I right?"

"How did you know?"

"Because you wouldn’t ring me if they were targeting the Northern Alliance…?"

Li Chengfeng chuckled. "The Chaotic 27’s army totals around 12 million players and has already passed through Bloody Shield Domain and Eternal Ice Snow Region. They’ll arrive to Wind City in another 5 hours at most. The Northern Alliance is stalling us directly so that the Chaotic 27 can attack it without interruption. They’re seriously going all out to strike a blow against us!"

I said, "Let me guess. The reason the Chaotic 27 are helping the Northern Alliance even though they were—are—enemies is because Vienna had offered them a massive payout, right?"

"Yep!" Li Chengfeng replied. "You are completely correct. Vienna declared that the Northern Alliance will give them 3 cantons if they are able to raid Wind City successfully. It’s the same tactic he used to tempt Tear Stain into attacking the China server. Somehow, he managed to convince the English server to give up Sunset City to the Koreans."

"There are so many complicated ploys in play here…" I clenched my fists as I uttered, "Anyway, those mercenary little fucks think they can raid Wind City while we’re busy? We’re going to teach them a lesson they won’t forget!"

"Hehe!" Li Chengfeng chuckled again before saying, "You remember Who Will Fight Me[1]? He was the supreme leader of the Chaotic 27 and your friend, and he never agreed with the plan to attack the China server from the start until the end. Literally. The poor guy has been removed from his position, and the number one experts of the other countries are now in charge. Anyway, the first wave of cavalrymen are expected to hit Wind City in 5 hours. What do we do?"

"What else? We go online and intercept them!"

"Okay!"

I hung up and left the room. It was 5 am in the morning, which meant that everyone had had almost 7 hours of sleep. That was enough. I knocked on everyone’s door and woke them up for some soft porridge.

……

Twenty minutes later, I logged into the game with a half-full stomach!

Swhoosh!

After reappearing at Fortress of the Iron Halberd and inspecting myself for a bit, I decided that I was in fine enough condition that there was no need to repair or restock my supplies. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players kept logging into the game all around me, and Gods of Destruction was still battling against the Northern Alliance. I saw Dominating Heaven Blade fighting against the invasion force made up of smaller guilds with his usual cohorts, and players rushing up and down the walls as well. The battle was fierce for sure.

"Give us the order, Lu Chen!" High Fighting Spirits licked his lips with a wide grin on his face. "What should we do next? Should we stay and fight, or are we going somewhere else?"

I smiled and ordered in the guild channel, "All online Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages, teleport to Wind City now and await further orders!"

In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, my word was basically the law. Although He Yi was the guild leader, everyone knew that her orders would never contradict mine. Therefore, my orders were on the same level as hers[2].

Swhoosh!

After teleporting back to Sky City, I stepped through the teleportation formation and selected Wind City!

My figure blurred for an instant before I appeared on top of Wind City’s teleportation formation. All around me, large groups of Dragonlight Cavalrymen could be seen moving toward the smithy and potion shop to repair and stock up on supplies. They were working quickly because I had only given them ten minutes to prepare!

He Yi walked away from the bustling crowd and toward me. She asked, "Are we going to intercept the Chaotic 27 alone, Lu Chen?"

I nodded. "Yep!"

"Are you sure we can do this alone?" He Yi looked a bit worried.

I shot her a reassuring smile and said, "Absolutely!"

"How are you so sure?"

"Yeah!" Murong Mingyue chimed in as well. "How are you so sure?"

I answered without hesitation, "It’s simple. The Chaotic 27 want their reward so bad that they are trying to blitz Wind City as soon as possible. Therefore, their vanguard is purely composed of fast-moving riders. According to reliable info, their total cavalry count is around 5 million, and they belong to more than 300 guilds. All we need to do is to wipe out these 5 million cavalrymen, and the rest of the army will be too scared to continue any further!"

He Yi still looked worried, however. "That’s still 5 million enemies that we have to fight. Can we really do this alone?"

"Of course!" I said smilingly. "Inform our core members to gather at the Holy Temple of Wind City for a quick meeting, will you?"

"Mn!"

……

Three minutes later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and the rest of our core players were assembled in the Holy Temple. There were about 20 of us in total.

I was waiting patiently at the center of the crowd when the last person finally arrived, and the meeting was ready to begin.

"So, how are we going to ambush the enemy?" Li Chengfeng asked while scratching his head. "I can do a frontal assault just fine, but I seriously can’t plot strategies or trick the enemy, so tell us the plan already, Lu Chen. Can’t you see the curiosity in my and Little Gui’s eyes? It’s about to burst out of our eyeballs!"

I rolled my eyes at them. "Sometimes, I so want to kick both of your asses!"

Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. "Seriously though, don’t keep us waiting any longer, big bro!"

"Mn!"

I waved my hand and shared with everyone Wind City maps that bordered Bloody Shield Domain. I tapped a finger on the three maps I had marked earlier and began, "Take a look. The first map is Burning Plains, the second map is Autumn Forest Trail, and the third map is Falling Goose Valley. We’ll be setting up our ambush in these three maps!"

Xu Yang’s eyes widened. "Why Burning Plains though? It’s a plain; how do you set up an ambush with no cover whatsoever?"

I grinned. "It’s just the first battle. We’ll be fighting the enemy directly on Burning Plains."

Li Chengfeng crossed his arms in front of his chest. "To be honest, I’m pretty confused myself. Even I can tell that the forest beside Bloody Shield Domain is more suitable for ambushes. Why these three maps in particular, Lu Chen?"

He Yi looked curious as well. "Yes. Why?"

Chaos Moon teased me. "We won’t fight for you if you don’t give us a proper explanation!"

I sucked in a deep breath before starting, "It’s simple. I want the first battle to happen on Burning Plains because it is the most advantageous map for our enemies. We’ll let them slaughter us for a bit[3] so that we can lure them into the second map to the right, Forest Autumn Trail. Forest Autumn Trail is an excellent map for ambushes, but we’re still going to pretend to lose after a while and lure them deeper into Falling Goose Valley. This is where we’ll be showing them our true power. If we are successful in luring all 5 million enemy cavalrymen into Falling Goose Valley, then I promise you that not a single one of them will make it out alive. We’ll muster 90% of our currently online players and annihilate the enemy here at Falling Goose Valley. When all is said and done, these self-seeking bastards won’t dare to invade the China server ever again!"

"But…" He Yi voiced her doubts, "Not everyone in the Chaotic 27 is an idiot. Surely some of them will notice that we’re faking our defeat and keep their allies from entering the trap we set?"

"They will. They won’t be able to resist my poisoned candy!" I declared.

"Candy? What?" My beautiful guild leader looked utterly confused.

I turned toward our second subguild’s leader, Disillusion, and said, "Disillusion, you and your 90k online players will engage the enemy’s 5 million cavalrymen on Burning Plains later. Everyone including yourself must perish in battle!"

Disillusion looked shocked. "Lu Chen, what are…"

I nodded. "You are all my brothers and sisters, so it’s only right that I inform you why exactly I’m sacrificing your guild. Long story short, I need your guild to perish in this battle to achieve the best possible outcome. As compensation, we will reward every man and woman in the second subguild 10,000 gold or 10k RMB when the battle is over!"

Disillusion finally realized what I was trying to make his guild do and let out a hearty laugh. "Forget the compensation, man! We’re not cowards, and we definitely aren’t so prideful that we can’t bring ourselves to play the role of bait! As you command, we will fight the enemy until we’re all dead. We also promise to make the enemy pay the blood price for it. Again, I won’t ask you to reward us for performing our duties. All I ask is that you give my guild priority when you train the next 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the future!"

I nodded. "No problem, brother!"

……

"Alright, you’ve explained the first part of the plan. What’s next?" Chaos Moon asked.

I looked at Xu Yang and asked, "Can you give me a tally of our currently available players?"

Xu Yang responded, "Practically everyone from the first to tenth subguilds is online. We also have 150k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 80k Dragonlight Archers, and about 100k Holy Mages in total. The other classes total up to around 700k players. Overall, we have about 1 million players in total. Do you think that’s enough to annihilate the enemy’s 5 million elite cavalrymen?"

"Absolutely!" I nodded strongly before ordering, "Second subguild, you may depart to Burning Plains and prepare to receive the enemy now. I also want 50k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers to set up an ambush at Autumn Forest Trail. As for everyone else, we will be moving to Falling Goose Valley to set up our ambush now. Yes, now. The enemy should reach us in about 7 hours!"

Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Now? You said yourself it’ll be another 7 hours before the enemy arrives at Falling Goose Valley. Isn’t that a bit too early?"

"No. It has to be now!" I declared.

"Why?" Li Chengfeng voiced his doubts.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts before explaining, "I’ve been to Falling Goose Valley before, so I can tell you that the forest is chock-full of geese. If we head over there and set up our defense now, enough time will have passed for the geese to respawn, or stop running about after being startled by our army. When the enemy’s cavalry arrives at Falling Goose Valley, they will see a bunch of startled geese taking to the sky and not think that there’s already someone there. Only then will they feel safe enough to march all 5 million of their cavalrymen into the valley. As you say, our enemies aren’t idiots. We can’t annihilate the enemy if we don’t ensure that our acting is perfect![4]"

Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle of realization and said, "Damn, that is a cunning plan befitting the Little Heavenly King…"

I continued, "All flyers—Eve, Little Gui, Beiming, Chengfeng, and Little Xin—we will be following the second subguild to the Burning Plains and do as much damage as possible to the enemy. We will withdraw right before the second subguild is annihilated and lure the enemy into Autumn Forest Trail!"

"Got it. Let’s go!"

……

After that, everyone got to work and departed Wind City as quickly as we could. Our main force slipped into the forest of Falling Goose Valley and did their best to remain concealed. I prayed that our plan wouldn’t be leaked to the Chaotic 27. We only accepted players who had passed through a set of stringent requirements, but it was impossible to say that our guild was completely free of spies.

1. T/N: the author certainly doesn’t because the raws say Red Ovenbird. Jesus ☜

2. E/N: Technically, if she would never go against you, and you would go against her, that means your orders are at an even higher level… ☜

3. E/N: “We’ll let them hold an advantage over the greatest guild in the freaking world, and they won’t suspect a thing. Oh, and did I mention that I will sacrifice people for that, even though I wanted to preserve my forces not long ago? ☜

4. T/N: can actually work since the enemy composition is pure cavalrymen ☜

My drowsiness was chased away instantly. I abruptly sat up on the bed and answered the call, "Skip the pleasantries and tell me the situation straight away, Chengfeng!"

Li Chengfeng answered, "Yeah. The Chaotic 27 have mobilized their troops!"

"To attack us, am I right?"

"How did you know?"

"Because you wouldn’t ring me if they were targeting the Northern Alliance…?"

Li Chengfeng chuckled. "The Chaotic 27’s army totals around 12 million players and has already passed through Bloody Shield Domain and Eternal Ice Snow Region. They’ll arrive to Wind City in another 5 hours at most. The Northern Alliance is stalling us directly so that the Chaotic 27 can attack it without interruption. They’re seriously going all out to strike a blow against us!"

I said, "Let me guess. The reason the Chaotic 27 are helping the Northern Alliance even though they were—are—enemies is because Vienna had offered them a massive payout, right?"

"Yep!" Li Chengfeng replied. "You are completely correct. Vienna declared that the Northern Alliance will give them 3 cantons if they are able to raid Wind City successfully. It’s the same tactic he used to tempt Tear Stain into attacking the China server. Somehow, he managed to convince the English server to give up Sunset City to the Koreans."

"There are so many complicated ploys in play here…" I clenched my fists as I uttered, "Anyway, those mercenary little fucks think they can raid Wind City while we’re busy? We’re going to teach them a lesson they won’t forget!"

"Hehe!" Li Chengfeng chuckled again before saying, "You remember Who Will Fight Me[1]? He was the supreme leader of the Chaotic 27 and your friend, and he never agreed with the plan to attack the China server from the start until the end. Literally. The poor guy has been removed from his position, and the number one experts of the other countries are now in charge. Anyway, the first wave of cavalrymen are expected to hit Wind City in 5 hours. What do we do?"

"What else? We go online and intercept them!"

"Okay!"

I hung up and left the room. It was 5 am in the morning, which meant that everyone had had almost 7 hours of sleep. That was enough. I knocked on everyone’s door and woke them up for some soft porridge.

……

Twenty minutes later, I logged into the game with a half-full stomach!

Swhoosh!

After reappearing at Fortress of the Iron Halberd and inspecting myself for a bit, I decided that I was in fine enough condition that there was no need to repair or restock my supplies. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls players kept logging into the game all around me, and Gods of Destruction was still battling against the Northern Alliance. I saw Dominating Heaven Blade fighting against the invasion force made up of smaller guilds with his usual cohorts, and players rushing up and down the walls as well. The battle was fierce for sure.

"Give us the order, Lu Chen!" High Fighting Spirits licked his lips with a wide grin on his face. "What should we do next? Should we stay and fight, or are we going somewhere else?"

I smiled and ordered in the guild channel, "All online Dragonlight Cavalrymen, Dragonlight Archers and Holy Mages, teleport to Wind City now and await further orders!"

In Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, my word was basically the law. Although He Yi was the guild leader, everyone knew that her orders would never contradict mine. Therefore, my orders were on the same level as hers[2].

Swhoosh!

After teleporting back to Sky City, I stepped through the teleportation formation and selected Wind City!

My figure blurred for an instant before I appeared on top of Wind City’s teleportation formation. All around me, large groups of Dragonlight Cavalrymen could be seen moving toward the smithy and potion shop to repair and stock up on supplies. They were working quickly because I had only given them ten minutes to prepare!

He Yi walked away from the bustling crowd and toward me. She asked, "Are we going to intercept the Chaotic 27 alone, Lu Chen?"

I nodded. "Yep!"

"Are you sure we can do this alone?" He Yi looked a bit worried.

I shot her a reassuring smile and said, "Absolutely!"

"How are you so sure?"

"Yeah!" Murong Mingyue chimed in as well. "How are you so sure?"

I answered without hesitation, "It’s simple. The Chaotic 27 want their reward so bad that they are trying to blitz Wind City as soon as possible. Therefore, their vanguard is purely composed of fast-moving riders. According to reliable info, their total cavalry count is around 5 million, and they belong to more than 300 guilds. All we need to do is to wipe out these 5 million cavalrymen, and the rest of the army will be too scared to continue any further!"

He Yi still looked worried, however. "That’s still 5 million enemies that we have to fight. Can we really do this alone?"

"Of course!" I said smilingly. "Inform our core members to gather at the Holy Temple of Wind City for a quick meeting, will you?"

"Mn!"

……

Three minutes later, Li Chengfeng, Gui Guzi, Chaos Moon, Xu Yang, Du Thirteen and the rest of our core players were assembled in the Holy Temple. There were about 20 of us in total.

I was waiting patiently at the center of the crowd when the last person finally arrived, and the meeting was ready to begin.

"So, how are we going to ambush the enemy?" Li Chengfeng asked while scratching his head. "I can do a frontal assault just fine, but I seriously can’t plot strategies or trick the enemy, so tell us the plan already, Lu Chen. Can’t you see the curiosity in my and Little Gui’s eyes? It’s about to burst out of our eyeballs!"

I rolled my eyes at them. "Sometimes, I so want to kick both of your asses!"

Beiming Xue burst into a giggle. "Seriously though, don’t keep us waiting any longer, big bro!"

"Mn!"

I waved my hand and shared with everyone Wind City maps that bordered Bloody Shield Domain. I tapped a finger on the three maps I had marked earlier and began, "Take a look. The first map is Burning Plains, the second map is Autumn Forest Trail, and the third map is Falling Goose Valley. We’ll be setting up our ambush in these three maps!"

Xu Yang’s eyes widened. "Why Burning Plains though? It’s a plain; how do you set up an ambush with no cover whatsoever?"

I grinned. "It’s just the first battle. We’ll be fighting the enemy directly on Burning Plains."

Li Chengfeng crossed his arms in front of his chest. "To be honest, I’m pretty confused myself. Even I can tell that the forest beside Bloody Shield Domain is more suitable for ambushes. Why these three maps in particular, Lu Chen?"

He Yi looked curious as well. "Yes. Why?"

Chaos Moon teased me. "We won’t fight for you if you don’t give us a proper explanation!"

I sucked in a deep breath before starting, "It’s simple. I want the first battle to happen on Burning Plains because it is the most advantageous map for our enemies. We’ll let them slaughter us for a bit[3] so that we can lure them into the second map to the right, Forest Autumn Trail. Forest Autumn Trail is an excellent map for ambushes, but we’re still going to pretend to lose after a while and lure them deeper into Falling Goose Valley. This is where we’ll be showing them our true power. If we are successful in luring all 5 million enemy cavalrymen into Falling Goose Valley, then I promise you that not a single one of them will make it out alive. We’ll muster 90% of our currently online players and annihilate the enemy here at Falling Goose Valley. When all is said and done, these self-seeking bastards won’t dare to invade the China server ever again!"

"But…" He Yi voiced her doubts, "Not everyone in the Chaotic 27 is an idiot. Surely some of them will notice that we’re faking our defeat and keep their allies from entering the trap we set?"

"They will. They won’t be able to resist my poisoned candy!" I declared.

"Candy? What?" My beautiful guild leader looked utterly confused.

I turned toward our second subguild’s leader, Disillusion, and said, "Disillusion, you and your 90k online players will engage the enemy’s 5 million cavalrymen on Burning Plains later. Everyone including yourself must perish in battle!"

Disillusion looked shocked. "Lu Chen, what are…"

I nodded. "You are all my brothers and sisters, so it’s only right that I inform you why exactly I’m sacrificing your guild. Long story short, I need your guild to perish in this battle to achieve the best possible outcome. As compensation, we will reward every man and woman in the second subguild 10,000 gold or 10k RMB when the battle is over!"

Disillusion finally realized what I was trying to make his guild do and let out a hearty laugh. "Forget the compensation, man! We’re not cowards, and we definitely aren’t so prideful that we can’t bring ourselves to play the role of bait! As you command, we will fight the enemy until we’re all dead. We also promise to make the enemy pay the blood price for it. Again, I won’t ask you to reward us for performing our duties. All I ask is that you give my guild priority when you train the next 10,000 Dragonlight Cavalrymen in the future!"

I nodded. "No problem, brother!"

……

"Alright, you’ve explained the first part of the plan. What’s next?" Chaos Moon asked.

I looked at Xu Yang and asked, "Can you give me a tally of our currently available players?"

Xu Yang responded, "Practically everyone from the first to tenth subguilds is online. We also have 150k Dragonlight Cavalrymen, 80k Dragonlight Archers, and about 100k Holy Mages in total. The other classes total up to around 700k players. Overall, we have about 1 million players in total. Do you think that’s enough to annihilate the enemy’s 5 million elite cavalrymen?"

"Absolutely!" I nodded strongly before ordering, "Second subguild, you may depart to Burning Plains and prepare to receive the enemy now. I also want 50k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers to set up an ambush at Autumn Forest Trail. As for everyone else, we will be moving to Falling Goose Valley to set up our ambush now. Yes, now. The enemy should reach us in about 7 hours!"

Li Chengfeng looked surprised. "Now? You said yourself it’ll be another 7 hours before the enemy arrives at Falling Goose Valley. Isn’t that a bit too early?"

"No. It has to be now!" I declared.

"Why?" Li Chengfeng voiced his doubts.

I took a moment to gather my thoughts before explaining, "I’ve been to Falling Goose Valley before, so I can tell you that the forest is chock-full of geese. If we head over there and set up our defense now, enough time will have passed for the geese to respawn, or stop running about after being startled by our army. When the enemy’s cavalry arrives at Falling Goose Valley, they will see a bunch of startled geese taking to the sky and not think that there’s already someone there. Only then will they feel safe enough to march all 5 million of their cavalrymen into the valley. As you say, our enemies aren’t idiots. We can’t annihilate the enemy if we don’t ensure that our acting is perfect![4]"

Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle of realization and said, "Damn, that is a cunning plan befitting the Little Heavenly King…"

I continued, "All flyers—Eve, Little Gui, Beiming, Chengfeng, and Little Xin—we will be following the second subguild to the Burning Plains and do as much damage as possible to the enemy. We will withdraw right before the second subguild is annihilated and lure the enemy into Autumn Forest Trail!"

"Got it. Let’s go!"

……

After that, everyone got to work and departed Wind City as quickly as we could. Our main force slipped into the forest of Falling Goose Valley and did their best to remain concealed. I prayed that our plan wouldn’t be leaked to the Chaotic 27. We only accepted players who had passed through a set of stringent requirements, but it was impossible to say that our guild was completely free of spies.

1. T/N: the author certainly doesn’t because the raws say Red Ovenbird. Jesus ☜

2. E/N: Technically, if she would never go against you, and you would go against her, that means your orders are at an even higher level… ☜

3. E/N: “We’ll let them hold an advantage over the greatest guild in the freaking world, and they won’t suspect a thing. Oh, and did I mention that I will sacrifice people for that, even though I wanted to preserve my forces not long ago? ☜

4. T/N: can actually work since the enemy composition is pure cavalrymen ☜