Swhoos.h.!.+
Coincidentally, I appeared at Dark Moon City at 11 am sharp. It was overcrowded with players as everyone was preparing to head to Land of Soul Suppression.
Everyone knew that the percentage of players who would walk away from Land of Soul Suppression a winner was less than 1%, but the number of people who actually balked at the knowledge were few and far between. After all, the jianghu was ever-changing, and everyone wanted to carve a better future for themselves. Who knows, maybe Lady Luck would grace them with her presence and reward them with a Divine-grade equipment, right?
……
"You"re up, Lu Chen!"
Li Chengfeng said to me from the guild channel, "Almost everyone is ready to go. Many of them are waiting at Wind City already. The Dragonlight Cavalry will be partic.i.p.ating in this event. Overall, around one hundred thousand guild members will be partic.i.p.ating as well."
I nodded. "Yeah, Land of Soul Suppression is a fairly huge map, and I"m sure the Northern Alliance and the forces from other parts of the China server will be partic.i.p.ating as well. Don"t say I didn"t warn you all, but it"s highly probable that this battle will be on the same scale as a Nation War."
Xu Yang said, "Many of our players don"t meet the Level 140 requirement to enter Land of Soul Suppression, so I told them to focus on grinding their levels as usual. Even if they could come in, they"d just die a pointless death without good levels or equipment, not to mention that it absolutely sucks b.a.l.l.s to die in a place filled with the vengeful dead…"
I laughed. "You"re absolutely right, Brother Xu Yang!"
A chuckling Gui Guzi asked, "So, should we travel as a group, or do you have something else in mind, Boss Broken Halberd?"
Instead of replying immediately, I asked, "What do you guys think?"
Chaos Moon replied, "Let"s just stick together after we enter the map. It would suck if we got caught by the Northern Alliance forces while we"re split."
He Yi agreed. "Chaos Moon is correct. Let"s take a moment to rally after we enter the map. We can split up after we find proper grinding spots."
"Alright, it"s decided then. Those who haven"t stocked up on supplies yet, do it now. The rest of you, teleport to Wind City and gather outside the map!"
"Okay!"
……
I ran straight to the repair merchant and tapped the one-key repair all option. Now that I had gotten back most of my levels, I was no longer afraid of losing equipment. I could just re-equip them even if I died.
I looked into my warehouse and noted that my current stock of Saint Spirit Potions wasn"t quite enough to satisfy my need. So, I created some on the spot and put them all in my bag. I also made sure to bring some Rank 10 food with me because no one knows how long we would be staying in Land of Soul Suppression. Theoretically, three loaves of Rank 10 bread would be enough to sustain me for 72 hours, but if the fighting was intense, then that time could easily be shortened to just 24 hours.
I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and got on top of its back. Then, I summoned the Phantom Wolf King and set it to follow-protect mode. What this meant was that the Phantom Wolf King would stay close to me, and that it would automatically engage my attackers. Anyone who dared to touch a hair on my body would have to face the wrath of my loyal wolf.
Swhoos.h.!.+
I teleported to Wind City. This wasn"t the first time I had come here, and while it was grand, it was visually slightly less impressive than Sky City. On the other hand, it stretched over a bigger area, had a bigger population, tons of NPC armies and incredible city defenses. It was why Wind City was one of the three main cities of the China server.
"Lu Chen, we"re a.s.sembling at the northern gate! The Dragonlight Cavalry is moving together!" He Yi messaged me.
I rode to the northern gate, and as expected, I saw my beautiful knightress waiting for me just beyond the edges of a lush forest with a smile. Behind her, Li Chengfeng, Chaos Moon, Gui Guzi and the rest of the Dragonlight Cavalry were at the ready. All around us, people were shooting our cavalry looks of respect and/or envy because they knew that these were the people who terrorized the Northern Alliance and gave their lives to protect every inch of the land during the War of Dawn City. In fact, countless people dearly wished that they could become a part of the Dragonlight Cavalry. In their opinion, it was an honor and a dream worthy of pursuit, plus, who wouldn"t want to join the ranks of heroes?
I greeted everyone with a smile as I rode up to them, "f.u.c.k, you guys are fast…"
Li Chengfeng rolled his eyes. "You"re the one who"s slow. What were you doing anyway?"
"Cooking…"
"What the f.u.c.k? Our vice leader is cooking his own consumables?"
"What can you do? I have good cooking skills."
"f.u.c.k…"
……
After the short banter, I stopped in front of my troops and said, "Alright. Dragonlight Cavalry! Let us depart to Land of Soul Suppression!"
I took off, and everyone followed behind me. A dark red aura seemed to linger around our indigo outline and paint us in a murderous picture. We were a cavalry of nation protectors and a sharp blade that cut down all our enemies. We wouldn"t hesitate to declare war on anyone who would dare to infringe on our dignity!
As we traveled, I asked He Yi, "How goes the Nation War of Eternal Love City? Is it over yet?"
"I think it ended prematurely, but I"m not sure since I wasn"t paying attention…" He Yi stuck out her tongue cutely. "I"m almost as clueless as you are, hehe!"
I smiled embarra.s.sedly, but luckily Li Chengfeng rode up to us and came to our rescue. He said,
"I logged in rather early in the morning, and I"ve been paying attention to the news. From what I heard, Candle Dragon and the Avengers attacked Eternal Love City for a whole day and night, but it seemed like they were ultimately thwarted by Vienna"s Sorrow army. Failing that, they moved onto a tier 2 city called "Skyview City" and occupied it. The system is currently updating the map and putting it under Wind City"s jurisdiction right now."
"Oh, Candlelight Shadow actually managed to take over a tier 2 city? I guess he succeeded in achieving his objective in the end…" I commented.
But Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle. "I guess, but I really think that the occupation is pointless…"
Chaos Moon asked, "What do you mean? It"s still a tier 2 city. How can it be pointless?"
Li Chengfeng answered, "It"s simple. Skyview City is situated on the other side of Dragonbone Mountain Range and far, far away from Wind City or Dawn City. If the tier 2 city"s teleportation formation is destroyed, there is no chance in h.e.l.l any reinforcement could reach the city in time. On the other hand, it"ll take t.i.tan City and Eternal Love City less than two hours to reach Skyview City, not to mention that Skyview City"s defense is incomparable to that of a main city as a matter of course. What this means is that Skyview City is really a burden that our enemy can invade repeatedly to exhaust our strength. Ever heard of the term "white elephant"? The city"s still a valuable a.s.set, but the disadvantages are pretty d.a.m.ning!"
I smiled. "Mn, my opinion is more or less the same as Chengfeng"s. A tier 2 city is nothing to be afraid of, and its defenses are pretty weak. It"s why it"s always better to occupy a main city. In this case, it"s even worse because there"s a chance this is all really a trap the Northern Alliance had set up for us."
"A trap?" He Yi and Chaos Moon looked at me in unison. "What do you mean?"
"Just think about it. Skyview City is a part of China now, and Wind City would be garrisoning its NPC armies there to protect it. Will t.i.tan City and Eternal Love City endure this indignity and do nothing? Of course not. I expect them to invade Skyview City repeatedly and kill the NPC armies garrisoned there again and again, but avoid retaking it. Once Wind City runs out of NPC armies to send to Skyview City, they"ll switch targets and launch a true invasion on Wind City. Without any NPC army to help us, our chances of defending Wind City successfully will drop by 30% at least, especially since NPC armies will take part in the wars between main cities. Heck, they may even lead the war themselves!"
My explanation hit everyone like a lightning bolt.
Thud!
Li Chengfeng punched his own palm before swearing, "f.u.c.k, I can"t believe I didn"t think about this! That b.a.s.t.a.r.d, he was so absorbed in pulling Candle Dragon out of a rut that he didn"t think that his action would lead to the Northern Alliance eating away at our virtual strength! We lose out big no matter how you look at it!"
"Mn!"
I nodded in agreement, but I said, "Objectively speaking though, this was the only choice Candlelight Shadow could"ve made even if he knew what it might lead to. By taking down a tier 2 city—the first successful occupation since the Nation War became active too—he had more or less made up for his failures and rescued Candle Dragon"s reputation from disaster. After all, not everyone can think as clearly as us, and Candlelight Shadow has a ton of diehard fans who"ll forgive him at the drop of a hat."
Li Chengfeng smiled and clenched both his fists. "That"s fine. We have all the time in the world to crush Candlelight Shadow"s dynasty! We may as well take it slow and enjoy the journey to its fullest!"
I laughed in agreement. "Exactly! We"ll make him suffer in the worst way imaginable!"
Chaos Moon criticized us, "For a second I thought you guys are great people who worry over the bigger picture, but no, you"re just brutal avengers…"
Gui Guzi smiled and spat on the ground. He immediately earned Chaos Moon"s ire.
"Why are you spitting in my presence? Do you want to die? Don"t pick up Stranger of Three Lifetimes" bad habits, you!"
……
It took us almost half an hour to pa.s.s through Wind Forest, and that was only because the Dragonlight Armored Horse was fast. A foot soldier would"ve to walk at least an hour no matter how fast they were. That was why He Yi was carrying Murong Mingyue on her mount, and I, Beiming Xue. Sitting behind my back, the Dark Archer suddenly asked a random question while she was scrutinizing my weapon, "Big bro, why is your scabbard so ugly?"
I couldn"t stop my facial muscles from twitching. "How should I know? f.u.c.k…"
It was at this moment He Yi pointed to the front and said, "Look, we"ve reached the teleportation point!"
"Ohh!"
……
As we continued forward, a wide plain and a ton of teleportation formations started entering our view. Each teleportation formation was guarded by an old NPC mage who was responsible for teleporting us to Land of Soul Suppression. Without them, the only other way to get there was to climb over the mountain range, and from what I heard, there was an evil and tyrannical Level 220 Dark Dragon guarding the peak. Only an idiot would attempt that. Candle Dragon had apparently dispatched several thousand-man parties to challenge the Dark Dragon in the past, but they were annihilated by the lackeys before they even reached the final boss. It was embarra.s.sing to say the least.
"Let"s wait. It"ll be another half an hour before the teleportation formations open!" He Yi stood next to an old mage and said, "We"ll travel to the Land of Soul Suppression through this teleportation formation. I wonder what"ll be waiting for us on the other side… Well, what are you guys waiting for? Let"s surround this formation before someone can take it from us…"
We immediately walked over to her and surrounded the teleportation formation as commanded. I had to admit that we looked pretty stupid like this.
About 100 yards, there was another teleportation formation that was guarded by Hall of Immortality players. I even spotted Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch over there.
……
"Hey look, it"s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls…" a little mage exclaimed in surprise when he saw us.
Sitting atop his mount, Bloodthirsty Battle Monarch shot me a glance and let out a wordless harrumph.
Li Chengfeng immediately stepped out and pointed his sword at the guild leader menacingly, "What are you looking at? If you want a 1v1 then come at me! I just happen to be free right now!"