Luo River God Of The Capital’s assessment was correct. The importance of Famous Generals had exceeded many expectations so far, and people were starting to realize why the current patch was called “World Famous Generals”. Famous General Skills were destined to shine like the sun in this continent of murder and glory!

Candle Dragon had Candlelight Shadow, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls had me, and Snowy Cathaya had Lin Yixin. The first clash between Famous Generals could very well begin in this very tournament!

However, Candlelight Shadow’s Famous General Skill was useless in this competition. Outside, it was a deadly skill that killed any player targeted by him ten minutes after it was applied, but in this tournament, all the matches would be over in five minutes tops. Candlelight Shadow himself must have felt pretty tragic when he learned this.

My Famous General Skill on the other hand was way more useful in a tournament setting. A 40% Encourage buff was crazy enough, but with Tactics it was downright broken. Lin Yixin’s Bombshell was even more OP though. It was to the point where I felt like someone had made a mistake when they created this Famous General Skill. A 25% buff to all stats could turn even a Chihuahua into a Tibetan mastiff.

The next match was between Othershore Flower and Loyalty Above All.

It was again a match between two powerhouses. It was a very exciting three-round match where both sides gave their all to defeat the other, and in the end, Othershore Flower was the one who came out victorious and entered the Top 16 with a 2-1 score.

……

It was finally time for the matches in the second half of the grouping to begin.

The first match was between Gods of Destruction and Hunting Moon Dynasty!

The middle-aged man that was Dominating Heaven Blade went up the stage with his usual goons—Dominating Knight God, Dominating Mage God, and so on—as usual. In contrast, their opponent was a group of players who looked like they were students of a high school or a university. They must be incredibly good at the game though. There was no way they could have made it here where millions others had failed otherwise.

The competition was really, really fierce. Flower Room and Mad Dragon were mad lucky they encountered no strong teams whatsoever during the preliminaries. For example Peach Garden, the guild led by Indigo Collar was incredibly strong—they were stronger than the current Gods of Destruction, and they were definitely stronger than Flower Room and Mad Dragon—but they didn’t make it to the LAN matches. Why? It was because they were eliminated at the second last round, and by the hands of Purple Lily no less. It was tragic. They were supposed to be allies working together to take down Candle Dragon, but fate had decided to pit them against each other and eliminate one of them.

Dominating Heaven Blade exchanged a glance with the young party leader of Hunting Moon Dynasty before breaking into a smile. "Not bad, young man! It’s amazing you were able to make it to a LAN match at your age!"

The young party leader smiled right back and said, "Not bad, uncle! Do you know how rare is it for an uncle to make it to a LAN match? I’m the one who should be impressed here!"

"Pfft…" Dominating Mage God couldn’t control himself, whereas the crowd beneath the stage didn’t need to control themselves at all. A chorus of laughter filled the place for a time. Not only had Dominating Heaven Blade misjudged his opponent, his attempt to show off had backfired on him completely. Boasting truly was an original sin!

Grim-faced, Dominating Heaven Blade forced a smile onto his face and said, "See you inside the game, boy!"

The players of Hunting Moon Dynasty nodded before heading into the battle room. The next big match was about to begin!

……

Both parties’ formation appeared on the big screen. Gods of Destruction aside, Hunting Moon Dynasty’s players had pretty high levels.

Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties LV-106 Magic Knight

Ghastly Demon Blade LV-104 Assassin

One Meter Sunlight LV-105 Mage

Skyshaking Bow LV-105 Archer

Wind Of The General LV-105 Tactician

……

Besides that, their equipment and their detailed stats were listed behind their IDs, although the font was so small it was almost illegible. I could see dark gold and purple gold highlighted text, and Ghastly Demon Blade in particular had a 3-star Outstanding Dark Gold–grade dagger with almost the same Attack as my old Purgatory Sword. It was a powerful weapon to say the least!

I curled my lips and commented, "I have a feeling that tragedy is about to befall Gods of Destruction…"

Lin Yixin and He Yi nodded in unison. "Same!"

On the big screen, we saw both sides engaging one another in no time.

Dominating Heaven Blade was charging toward Hunting Moon Dynasty with intelligent maneuvers and looking for an opportunity to take down the enemy archer and mage. Dominating Knight God and Dominating Warrior God wisely tried to flank the enemy and surround them as well. Their battle strategy was clear, but unfortunately for them, Hunting Moon Dynasty was no noob party. The young party leader, Wei-Jin North-South Dynasties backed away continuously while making sure to stay between Dominating Heaven Blade and Dominating Knight God, ready to launch an attack at a moment’s notice. Ghastly Demon Blade appeared behind Dominating Archer God, hit him with a Cruel Blade and unleashed a series of combos. A few seconds later, Dominating Archer God became the first player to exit the ring.

"Dammit!"

Dominating Heaven Blade was furious. This was clearly a stalling strategy where the frontliners slowed down Gods of Destruction’s advance while their ranged players took them down one by one. It was exactly the kind of strategy a straightforward man—in combat at least—like Dominating Heaven Blade hated the most. A few exchanges later, Dominating Heaven Blade had lost half his HP because the enemy mage One Meter Sunlight had been hitting him with Ice Thrust all this time. It wasn’t a deadly spell, but there was literally nothing he could do about it.

Thud thud thud...

Skyshaking Bow fired a couple of arrows that tore apart Dominating Mage God’s Magic Shield. The moment it was gone, the mage froze in place because Ghastly Demon Blade had stunned him from behind. The assassin’s timing was practically perfect. Another two slashes later, Dominating Mage God was dead as well!

The rest of the battle went more or less as expected. Hunting Moon Dynasty’s equipment wasn’t actually that much stronger than Gods of Destruction party’s. They just had very good teamwork and a unique strategy that they executed very well. Dominating Heaven Blade and his goons deserved to lose the round.

Another round later, the match ended with a perfect 2-0 in favor of Hunting Moon Dynasty!

No one had any doubt that Gods of Destruction guild’s ranking would fall off a cliff when the Guild Ranking of China was refreshed. It was an utter tragedy. If their era wasn’t over before, it was now!

……

Whoosh!

A fragrant scent brushed past my nose as Lin Yixin rose to her feet. Carrying her sports-style handbag in hand, she said, "Heroes of Snowy Cathaya, it’s our turn to storm the stage!"

Shadow Chanel the Dark Tongue Mage, Purple Marquis the iron-blooded warrior, Clear Perfume the powerful archer, and Beauty At First Sight the Holy Bard followed their guild leader up the stage. When Lin Yixin stepped onto the stage—her natural youth and vibrance further accentuated by her sports suit—the audience instantly burst into thunderous applause. There were even people coiling their promotional posters into cones and shouting on top of their lungs, "I love you, Wind Fantasy! I love you, Fruit Knife Goddess…"

I pursed my lips and thought: Fuck y’all...

Lin Yixin greeted Fei’er briefly before entering the battle room with her players. Surprisingly, their opponents, Return Of The King, were a bunch of uncles. One of them with a beer belly like a pregnant lady’s stomach snatched the mic from Fei’er’s hand and introduced himself. "My name is Zeng Yingjun. I’ve played Legend in 2001, Dream in 2002 and WoW in 2003. These men beside me are all my comrades from back then! Now, we enter Heavenblessed to claim a corner of the world for ourselves! Vivid yet those crowded months and years. Young we were, schoolmates, at life's full flowering, filled with student enthusiasm. Boldly, we cast all restraints aside. Pointing to our mountains and rivers, setting people afire with our words, we counted the mighty no more than muck!"

Thud thud thud!

Instantly, Zeng Yingjun was hit by countless cola cans, keyboards, mice, Sloggi bras, Sofy sanitary napkins, Sinopec lubricant oils and so on. The poor dude and his teammates ran like hell into their battle room to avoid being murdered where they stood.

……

It was almost as if Zeng Yingjun had predicted the future, but all restraints were cast aside the moment both parties entered the battlefield!

Lin Yixin had activated her Famous General Skill, Bombshell, and increased all her party members’ stats by 40%. Even Clear Perfume, an archer, had almost 7000 HP. It didn’t take long for uncle Zeng Yingjun to realize that the archer he was trying to kill just wouldn’t die, while behind him the Fruit Knife Goddess was dancing across the stage and killing everyone like a beautiful butterfly. She had single-handedly obliterated the tragic party that was Return Of The King!

In fact, Shadow Chanel and Beauty At First Sight had no chance to perform. Lin Yixin and Purple Marquis had easily destroyed their enemy and ended the match with a clean 2-0. Snowy Cathaya’s performance in this battle was definitely commendable, and they were starting to look more and more like a true king of guilds.

Of course, everyone who made it this far were kings in their own right. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was the king of the north side of Dragonbone Mountain Range, Candle Dragon was the king of the entire server, and Purple Lily was the king of the center of Wind City. The clash of kings was inevitable, but only one party would walk away the victor.

When Lin Yixin and her party members walked back to me, she asked with a smile, "How did I do?"

I replied, "It was absolutely fantastic!"

Her cheeks turned red. "Fuck!"

In fact, I had a feeling that Lin Yixin had intentionally instructed Shadow Chanel and Beauty At First Sight to stay their hand. She was hoping to hide her party’s true strength as much as possible. If the Fruit Knife Goddess was the sword of Snowy Cathaya, then the Dark Tongue Mage and Holy Bard were their secret weapons. Naturally, you wouldn’t want to reveal and waste your secret weapons on meaningless battles!

……

The next match ended in a resounding 2-0 victory for The Monarch Descends, a rather mysterious party in my opinion. Finally, it was Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed’s turn to fight.

Gui Guzi, Xu Yang, Chaos Moon, High Fighting Spirits, and Eighteen Steeds Of You and Yun went up the stage with their helmets. They muttered among themselves—

Gui Guzi: "I heard that Zero Pitch Sonata is quite strong. Something must be working for them to make it into the LAN match with two mages and three archers!"

Xu Yang: "Calm down, we will win this…"

High Fighting Spirits asked, "By the way, why did we name our party ‘Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Second Seed’, or ASDSSS? That’s a bit too many ‘S’ for my liking, if you get what I mean… we should’ve called ourselves Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls Imperial Guard or something…"

Xu Yang curled his lips. "Little Gui’s the one who came up with that name. It has nothing to do with me…"

Chaos Moon: "Sigh. No wonder Du Thirteen often said that Gui Guzi is an S, but in this case, S stands for stupid instead of sadist…"

Gui Guzi: "I… ah, fuck me…"

Eighteen Steeds Of You and Yun laughed. "Alright alright, focus. Let’s take out this full long-range party as soon as possible. It so happens that we are all melee classes, so this shouldn’t be too difficult. The match is being broadcast live on CCTV-5, right? Let’s show the players of China what melee fighters can do! No matter how strong they are, we will break apart their formation and destroy them!"

"In that case, let’s do it like this!" Gui Guzi nodded with a smile. "I’ll Charge first and draw their firepower. The rest of you lock onto a target each and chase them until they die. Don’t give them a chance to focus fire on any of us. We cannot be the party to smear Boss Broken Halberd and the guild’s names, okay?"

High Fighting Spirits: "Got it. Get ready, everyone!"

A wholly unique full melee-class VS full ranged-class professional match was about to begin.