1556

"I… what… How did they get ambushed? I thought you guys were attacking Swallow Ear Canton??" I exclaimed in disbelief. If our 3-million main force were to be swallowed up in an ambush, then we might as well forfeit this Nation War right now!

Lin Yixin sounded worried as well. "Cyan Beast had been attacking our formation non-stop, but we were able to pay back as much damage as they were dishing out to us. Then… after Breeze and Rain got pincered by Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire and dropped to low health, he escaped with several 10,000 Cyan Beast first subguild players. Warsky wanted his head, so he gave chase together with the main force of Warsky Alliance and even Soul Battle Robes. It was because he thought they would be safe. However, they got ambushed at the intersection point between Soaring Flame Desert and the northern realms, Pharaoh Valley. They are still fighting, but they’ve received considerable damage up until this point!"

"Wasn’t Cyan Beast reinforcing Swallow Ear Canton?" I clenched my fists. "Logically speaking, Warsky Alliance plus Soul Battle Robes is a force no ordinary guild could ambush. But who else in Cyan Earth City besides Cyan Beast could threaten them?"

Lin Yixin groaned a little. "It was Vienna’s Sorrow. Nearly the entire Hero Alliance has been waiting in hiding inside Pharaoh Valley[1]. Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild were present as well. They’re the ones who sealed the exit and prevented Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes from escaping. In fact, their baiting strategy was almost completely identical to the one you used to annihilate the Chaotic 27 at Falling Goose Valley!"

"Fuck!" I punched a rock next to me hard. "Those motherfucking idiots! That unreliable Warsky! I told him to focus on Swallow Ear Canton before I left, and he went chasing after Cyan Beast’s subguild? Even if there was no ambush and he managed to kill all of them, what the fuck would he achieve? Delay Swallow Ear Canton’s demise? And he calls his guild the number one guild of Sky city! Fucking idiot!!"

Lin Yixin giggled at my outburst. "Calm down, dear. What should we do now? Pharaoh Valley is locked down by Throne of the Wild, and Warsky Alliance, Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire are currently trying to break through their blockade. If they succeed, then we could rescue at least 2 million players. If not, they’re all going to die in there!"

"Fine, I get it. I’ll find a way to save them. You just focus on stopping Natural Flow and conquering Swallow Ear Canton as soon as possible!"

"I promise you I’ll wipe them out in 4 hours[2]!"

"KK. Muah…"

"Muah your ass for now and go rescue our forces!"

"#@￥%#&..."

……

"What’s wrong, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon looked at me.

He Yi also asked me, "Who was it?"

I looked up and answered, "Lin Yixin.She has brought us some terrible news. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes’ 3-million strong army had been lured into an ambush at Pharaoh Valley. Even better, the ambushers were none other than Hero Alliance and Throne of the Wild. Both Vienna’s Sorrow and Tear Stain have finally shown themselves and are working together to kill them all right now!"

"OMG…" He Yi frowned deeply. "Both guilds are the pillars of the China server. The blow to morale from losing both of them alone will cripple our players. What do we do?"

I hummed for a second before answering, "We need to help them, but we can’t all go together. Otherwise, Fortress of the Iron Halberd will fall to the enemies…"

"Okay. So, how are we going to do that exactly?" Li Chengfeng asked.

I replied after thinking for a moment. "Chengfeng, I want you to rally 16k of our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but they must all be able to keep a secret. Is it doable?"

"Sure. We have at least that many trustworthy elite players. What’s the plan?"

"A surprise attack. We’re going to open the hole Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes need to escape!"

"Alright, I’ll get it done in 10 minutes!"

"Mn!"

I looked at Chaos Moon next and asked, "How many players do we still have?"

Chaos Moon curled her lips. "That latest battle took a lot out of us. We currently still have 90k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers, but our subguilds are severely damaged… roughly speaking, we have lost over 50% of our army, and our available players don’t exceed 1.5 million…"

I gritted my teeth. "1.5 million players from us and a couple hundred thousand from Momo is definitely not enough to hold the fortress…"

"What should we do then?"

"Give me some time to think… In the meantime, tell the guys to loot the battlefield as quickly as they can."

"Mn!"

A moment later, I flew up the wall and landed beside the elite players of Gods of Destruction.

"Fuck…"

Dominating Heaven Blade shot me a look. "You surprised me, man. What is it?"

I looked at Dominating Heaven Blade and said, "Do you want to protect Fortress of the Iron Halberd?"

"Of course!" Dominating Heaven Blade declared strongly. "These bastards killed over a million of my brothers and sisters. It’s my dream to hold the fortress AND wipe them all out!"

I nodded. "Good. I’m going to share Ancient Sword’s guild emblem with you, Dominating Heaven Blade. I want you and everyone in Gods of Destruction to change their emblems and ID markers temporarily to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

"What?" At the side, Dominating Warrior God looked agitated. "Are you trying to force us to become your subguild, Lu Chen? Unacceptable!! Gods of Destruction may not be as glorious as it used to be, but we will defend our independence until the bitter end! We will never become the subordinate of any guild be it Candle Dragon or Ancient Sword!"

Dominating Archer God was frowning as well. "What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen?"

I turned around and looked at the sea of Northern Alliance troops at the horizon. "The enemy still has an army of 15 million at the very least, and even Ancient Sword has used up much of our forces, let alone everyone else. At this rate, it won’t be long before the fortress falls. That is why the time for physical warfare is over, and the time for psychological warfare is now. I need you to buy us enough time to do what needs to be done."

Dominating Mage God hummed for a second. "Are you… planning to fool the enemy into thinking our forces are more formidable than they actually are?"

I nodded. "Exactly!"

Dominating Heaven Blade slapped his thigh and grinned. "I get it now! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has struck fear into the hearts of the Northern Alliance during the previous battles. If we all ‘join’ Ancient Sword now, it will seem like your reinforcements have arrived to save you. The Northern Alliance may suspect something, but they wouldn’t dare to go all out against a fortress that seems to hold a couple million Ancient Sword players, right?"

I nodded. "Correct. Now be quick. I have other urgent matters to attend to!"

"Got it!"

It wasn’t long before all the players on the walls had changed their emblems to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. From a distance, our emblems must look like a sea of red to our enemies!

……

A while later, Li Chengfeng flew up the wall and reported, "Brother, the 16k Dragonlight Cavalrymen you ordered are ready. Lu Buyi and I are the party leaders. Do you have any other instructions?"

I answered, "Give the party leader to Eve and teleport back to Dark Moon City with your men. Remember the teleportation formation I’ve set up at the territory hall? When it activates, you and your men will charge through it immediately. We’re going to break through Tear Stain’s blockade from outside."

Li Chengfeng grinned in realization. "I see now! It’s the shameless infinite teleportation tactic! I love it! I’ll pass the party leader to Eve right now. We’ll crush the enemy with Royal Road and Purple Dragon as our stratagems!"

"Yeah. I'm going now. I need to be at Pharaoh Valley to set up the teleportation formation. Also, please remind everyone to keep this a secret. I want to keep our enemy in the dark about this strategy for as long as possible!"

"Got it. Take care, brother!"

"You too!"

……

I slowly rose into the air before taking off like a fighter jet. I then searched for Pharaoh Valley on the map screen and locked onto it. Pharaoh Valley was an impassable valley with only one exit, which made Warsky’s decision to run headlong into it seem even stupider. Both him and Song of Ice and Fire were just too impulsive for their own good. Then again, I had to commend the Northern Alliance’s bravery for using the low-health Breeze and Rain as bait.

A thin layer of astral energy protected my body from the wind and allowed me to fly toward Pharaoh Valley at 100% of my speed. The forest beneath me slid back at high speed. I had unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword beforehand because I could see red dots everywhere. They were either mobs or Northern Alliance players, so I needed to be on my tiptoes all the time.

Thankfully, I wasn’t delayed overly much along the way. I reached Pharaoh Valley 9 minutes later, but I didn’t dare to go close for fear of being detected by the enemy.

Dark Pupils increased my vision range, so I could see through the clouds that the valley floor of the entire Pharaoh Valley was drenched in blood. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes’ players were doing their best to break out, but they were just surrounded by too many troops. I counted almost 10,000 players, and the England server’s God Breaker and the second and third best guilds of the Korea server were present as well. That was nearly ten million elites surrounding just 3 million Chinese forces.

……

"Charge full force for a bit longer! I’ll use the Immortal Blade’s Restoration Formation to heal everyone’s HP!"

Warsky was flying in the sky and fighting the enemy. Streams of green energy seeped out of his Immortal Blade and regenerated the HP of the players below him non-stop. This was one of the powers of the Immortal Blade. Its HP recovery abilities were so incredible that it rivaled my Xuanyuan Art or Gui Guzi’s Shennong Tastes Grass. It also possessed incredible longevity.

On the ground, I saw Song of Ice and Fire, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, God Bone, Laughing At The Heavens[3] and many elite cavalrymen making a break for it. At least 100,000 players were attacking the valley exit and painting the ground red with their blood.

Hovering above the exit where a green forest lay was a beautiful swordswoman. She was none other than the ascended Tear Stain. The corners of her lips turning upward at the sight of the charging players, she ordered, "No need to hold back, ballistae! Kill anyone who dares to resist!"

Twang twang twang!

As it turned out, a ton of siege weapons had been set up on the mountains. What seemed like 10,000 ballistae bolts fell from the sky and killed Warsky Alliance’s frontliners instantly. Even Warsky was knocked back by the attack.

……

Unable to watch the bloody scene any longer, I clenched my fists and glanced around for a bit. Outside the valley, there was an empty clearing in the middle of a pine forest. A lot of Throne of the Wild cavalrymen were patrolling around it. I decided instantly to use it as the starting point of our surprise attack!

1. E/N: Okay, Warsky IS an idiot. But he couldn’t have expected Northern Alliance to literally waste their time hiding in jungle. He probably thought they were thinking of using some crazy way to get into their territory, like the ghost ships, not sacrificing their guilds just for this one ambush. He still shouldn’t have overextended. ☜

2. T/N: H&S Noodles promised to take out SEC in 5 hours, but he failed and let it drag out to 7 hours. Now she still needs another 4 HOURS to conquer it? Is no one capable of doing shit without Lu Chen? ☜

3. T/N: holy shit you’re still alive my man? That’s incredible! ☜

"I… what… How did they get ambushed? I thought you guys were attacking Swallow Ear Canton??" I exclaimed in disbelief. If our 3-million main force were to be swallowed up in an ambush, then we might as well forfeit this Nation War right now!

Lin Yixin sounded worried as well. "Cyan Beast had been attacking our formation non-stop, but we were able to pay back as much damage as they were dishing out to us. Then… after Breeze and Rain got pincered by Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire and dropped to low health, he escaped with several 10,000 Cyan Beast first subguild players. Warsky wanted his head, so he gave chase together with the main force of Warsky Alliance and even Soul Battle Robes. It was because he thought they would be safe. However, they got ambushed at the intersection point between Soaring Flame Desert and the northern realms, Pharaoh Valley. They are still fighting, but they’ve received considerable damage up until this point!"

"Wasn’t Cyan Beast reinforcing Swallow Ear Canton?" I clenched my fists. "Logically speaking, Warsky Alliance plus Soul Battle Robes is a force no ordinary guild could ambush. But who else in Cyan Earth City besides Cyan Beast could threaten them?"

Lin Yixin groaned a little. "It was Vienna’s Sorrow. Nearly the entire Hero Alliance has been waiting in hiding inside Pharaoh Valley[1]. Tear Stain and Throne of the Wild were present as well. They’re the ones who sealed the exit and prevented Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes from escaping. In fact, their baiting strategy was almost completely identical to the one you used to annihilate the Chaotic 27 at Falling Goose Valley!"

"Fuck!" I punched a rock next to me hard. "Those motherfucking idiots! That unreliable Warsky! I told him to focus on Swallow Ear Canton before I left, and he went chasing after Cyan Beast’s subguild? Even if there was no ambush and he managed to kill all of them, what the fuck would he achieve? Delay Swallow Ear Canton’s demise? And he calls his guild the number one guild of Sky city! Fucking idiot!!"

Lin Yixin giggled at my outburst. "Calm down, dear. What should we do now? Pharaoh Valley is locked down by Throne of the Wild, and Warsky Alliance, Farewell Song and Song of Ice and Fire are currently trying to break through their blockade. If they succeed, then we could rescue at least 2 million players. If not, they’re all going to die in there!"

"Fine, I get it. I’ll find a way to save them. You just focus on stopping Natural Flow and conquering Swallow Ear Canton as soon as possible!"

"I promise you I’ll wipe them out in 4 hours[2]!"

"KK. Muah…"

"Muah your ass for now and go rescue our forces!"

"#@￥%#&..."

……

"What’s wrong, Lu Chen?" Chaos Moon looked at me.

He Yi also asked me, "Who was it?"

I looked up and answered, "Lin Yixin.She has brought us some terrible news. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes’ 3-million strong army had been lured into an ambush at Pharaoh Valley. Even better, the ambushers were none other than Hero Alliance and Throne of the Wild. Both Vienna’s Sorrow and Tear Stain have finally shown themselves and are working together to kill them all right now!"

"OMG…" He Yi frowned deeply. "Both guilds are the pillars of the China server. The blow to morale from losing both of them alone will cripple our players. What do we do?"

I hummed for a second before answering, "We need to help them, but we can’t all go together. Otherwise, Fortress of the Iron Halberd will fall to the enemies…"

"Okay. So, how are we going to do that exactly?" Li Chengfeng asked.

I replied after thinking for a moment. "Chengfeng, I want you to rally 16k of our best Dragonlight Cavalrymen, but they must all be able to keep a secret. Is it doable?"

"Sure. We have at least that many trustworthy elite players. What’s the plan?"

"A surprise attack. We’re going to open the hole Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes need to escape!"

"Alright, I’ll get it done in 10 minutes!"

"Mn!"

I looked at Chaos Moon next and asked, "How many players do we still have?"

Chaos Moon curled her lips. "That latest battle took a lot out of us. We currently still have 90k Dragonlight Cavalrymen and 50k Dragonlight Archers, but our subguilds are severely damaged… roughly speaking, we have lost over 50% of our army, and our available players don’t exceed 1.5 million…"

I gritted my teeth. "1.5 million players from us and a couple hundred thousand from Momo is definitely not enough to hold the fortress…"

"What should we do then?"

"Give me some time to think… In the meantime, tell the guys to loot the battlefield as quickly as they can."

"Mn!"

A moment later, I flew up the wall and landed beside the elite players of Gods of Destruction.

"Fuck…"

Dominating Heaven Blade shot me a look. "You surprised me, man. What is it?"

I looked at Dominating Heaven Blade and said, "Do you want to protect Fortress of the Iron Halberd?"

"Of course!" Dominating Heaven Blade declared strongly. "These bastards killed over a million of my brothers and sisters. It’s my dream to hold the fortress AND wipe them all out!"

I nodded. "Good. I’m going to share Ancient Sword’s guild emblem with you, Dominating Heaven Blade. I want you and everyone in Gods of Destruction to change their emblems and ID markers temporarily to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

"What?" At the side, Dominating Warrior God looked agitated. "Are you trying to force us to become your subguild, Lu Chen? Unacceptable!! Gods of Destruction may not be as glorious as it used to be, but we will defend our independence until the bitter end! We will never become the subordinate of any guild be it Candle Dragon or Ancient Sword!"

Dominating Archer God was frowning as well. "What is the meaning of this, Lu Chen?"

I turned around and looked at the sea of Northern Alliance troops at the horizon. "The enemy still has an army of 15 million at the very least, and even Ancient Sword has used up much of our forces, let alone everyone else. At this rate, it won’t be long before the fortress falls. That is why the time for physical warfare is over, and the time for psychological warfare is now. I need you to buy us enough time to do what needs to be done."

Dominating Mage God hummed for a second. "Are you… planning to fool the enemy into thinking our forces are more formidable than they actually are?"

I nodded. "Exactly!"

Dominating Heaven Blade slapped his thigh and grinned. "I get it now! Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has struck fear into the hearts of the Northern Alliance during the previous battles. If we all ‘join’ Ancient Sword now, it will seem like your reinforcements have arrived to save you. The Northern Alliance may suspect something, but they wouldn’t dare to go all out against a fortress that seems to hold a couple million Ancient Sword players, right?"

I nodded. "Correct. Now be quick. I have other urgent matters to attend to!"

"Got it!"

It wasn’t long before all the players on the walls had changed their emblems to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. From a distance, our emblems must look like a sea of red to our enemies!

……

A while later, Li Chengfeng flew up the wall and reported, "Brother, the 16k Dragonlight Cavalrymen you ordered are ready. Lu Buyi and I are the party leaders. Do you have any other instructions?"

I answered, "Give the party leader to Eve and teleport back to Dark Moon City with your men. Remember the teleportation formation I’ve set up at the territory hall? When it activates, you and your men will charge through it immediately. We’re going to break through Tear Stain’s blockade from outside."

Li Chengfeng grinned in realization. "I see now! It’s the shameless infinite teleportation tactic! I love it! I’ll pass the party leader to Eve right now. We’ll crush the enemy with Royal Road and Purple Dragon as our stratagems!"

"Yeah. I'm going now. I need to be at Pharaoh Valley to set up the teleportation formation. Also, please remind everyone to keep this a secret. I want to keep our enemy in the dark about this strategy for as long as possible!"

"Got it. Take care, brother!"

"You too!"

……

I slowly rose into the air before taking off like a fighter jet. I then searched for Pharaoh Valley on the map screen and locked onto it. Pharaoh Valley was an impassable valley with only one exit, which made Warsky’s decision to run headlong into it seem even stupider. Both him and Song of Ice and Fire were just too impulsive for their own good. Then again, I had to commend the Northern Alliance’s bravery for using the low-health Breeze and Rain as bait.

A thin layer of astral energy protected my body from the wind and allowed me to fly toward Pharaoh Valley at 100% of my speed. The forest beneath me slid back at high speed. I had unsheathed the Xuanyuan Sword beforehand because I could see red dots everywhere. They were either mobs or Northern Alliance players, so I needed to be on my tiptoes all the time.

Thankfully, I wasn’t delayed overly much along the way. I reached Pharaoh Valley 9 minutes later, but I didn’t dare to go close for fear of being detected by the enemy.

Dark Pupils increased my vision range, so I could see through the clouds that the valley floor of the entire Pharaoh Valley was drenched in blood. Warsky Alliance and Soul Battle Robes’ players were doing their best to break out, but they were just surrounded by too many troops. I counted almost 10,000 players, and the England server’s God Breaker and the second and third best guilds of the Korea server were present as well. That was nearly ten million elites surrounding just 3 million Chinese forces.

……

"Charge full force for a bit longer! I’ll use the Immortal Blade’s Restoration Formation to heal everyone’s HP!"

Warsky was flying in the sky and fighting the enemy. Streams of green energy seeped out of his Immortal Blade and regenerated the HP of the players below him non-stop. This was one of the powers of the Immortal Blade. Its HP recovery abilities were so incredible that it rivaled my Xuanyuan Art or Gui Guzi’s Shennong Tastes Grass. It also possessed incredible longevity.

On the ground, I saw Song of Ice and Fire, Lin Bing Dou Zhe, God Bone, Laughing At The Heavens[3] and many elite cavalrymen making a break for it. At least 100,000 players were attacking the valley exit and painting the ground red with their blood.

Hovering above the exit where a green forest lay was a beautiful swordswoman. She was none other than the ascended Tear Stain. The corners of her lips turning upward at the sight of the charging players, she ordered, "No need to hold back, ballistae! Kill anyone who dares to resist!"

Twang twang twang!

As it turned out, a ton of siege weapons had been set up on the mountains. What seemed like 10,000 ballistae bolts fell from the sky and killed Warsky Alliance’s frontliners instantly. Even Warsky was knocked back by the attack.

……

Unable to watch the bloody scene any longer, I clenched my fists and glanced around for a bit. Outside the valley, there was an empty clearing in the middle of a pine forest. A lot of Throne of the Wild cavalrymen were patrolling around it. I decided instantly to use it as the starting point of our surprise attack!

1. E/N: Okay, Warsky IS an idiot. But he couldn’t have expected Northern Alliance to literally waste their time hiding in jungle. He probably thought they were thinking of using some crazy way to get into their territory, like the ghost ships, not sacrificing their guilds just for this one ambush. He still shouldn’t have overextended. ☜

2. T/N: H&S Noodles promised to take out SEC in 5 hours, but he failed and let it drag out to 7 hours. Now she still needs another 4 HOURS to conquer it? Is no one capable of doing shit without Lu Chen? ☜

3. T/N: holy shit you’re still alive my man? That’s incredible! ☜