Afternoon, Dark Moon City, the territory hall.

He Yi, Murong Mingyue, Beiming Xue, Li Chengfeng, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and Chaos Moon were all present. It was also around this moment Wind City officially marched past Eternal Ice Snow Region.

……

I selected an in-game livestream channel—the one that was broadcasting the battle between Wind City and Eternal Love City right now—and projected it on a side wall. A moment later, a scene where a sea of players carrying red-colored, 5-star flags running all over the battlefield appeared clearly.

The edges of Eternal Ice Snow Region were connected to a grassy plain. Large groups of Chinese cavalry were currently assaulting a pass the French players of Eternal Love City were defending. From the looks of things, the victor wouldn’t be decided anytime soon.

The spotlight of the broadcast was firmly locked onto Candlelight Shadow’s figure. The man was currently killing players left and right and throwing Ghost God Prophecies at powerful players from time to time. Those poor bastards had no choice but to wait for death to claim them.

"Ghost God Prophecy is such a disgusting ability…"

He Yi said, "During the War of Dawn City, 9 out of 11 of the Heroic Bannermen Candlelight Shadow killed had died to his Ghost God Prophecy. I bet the Northern Alliance has the skill on a blacklist or something. Hmph, if it wasn’t for that skill, I doubt that Candlelight Shadow could’ve killed as many Heroic Bannerman as he did."

Xu Yang voiced his agreement, "Yeah. Candlelight Shadow is strong, but to be honest, he can’t quite catch up to our Lu Chen anymore."

Li Chengfeng said with a grin, "That being said, his individual skills are still top-tier. If he becomes a Divine General, there’s still a chance he can become a peak-level contender who can fight Lu Chen on even footing."

High Fighting Spirits said, "Who cares? Divine General or not, he’s still going to die in our hands!"

Du Thirteen, Xu Yang and the others laughed heartily. High Fighting Spirits might be an honest man who usually spoke without thinking, but he perfectly portrayed everyone’s thoughts at this moment.

……

Back to the broadcast, Candle Dragon was giving their all in the battle.

"Why are they trying so hard?" Beiming Xue asked after blinking once.

He Yi simply smiled and said nothing.

I explained, "It’s simple. Candle Dragon had performed horrendously in the War of Dawn City and looked nothing like the king of guilds they should be. To say that they are apprehensive—especially Candlelight Shadow, whose CGL ranking was even outstripped by Lin Yixin and I—would be a massive understatement. That is why Candlelight Shadow needs this gamble to work in his favor and is working hard to ensure it. Well, he isn’t wrong. If Wind City manages to obtain Eternal Love City, then he could definitely keep his throne a bit longer."

Beiming Xue giggled and held my arm, "Big bro, can you tell me something honestly? Do you want to become the king of the China server?"

I shook my head without hesitation. "I want Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls to become the king of China, not me. My personal glory is nothing compared to everyone’s dreams!"

Li Chengfeng nodded approvingly. "Yeah. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is all our dreams combined!"

Gui Guzi clenched his fists excitedly and declared, "Say, why don’t we launch our own invasion? Let’s exit Fortress of the Iron Halberd and attack Burning City or Hot Sand City! Show the Vietnamese and the Koreans the true power of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!"

Chaos Moon giggled. "Ah, Little Gui is being stupid again…"

Heaven’s Rain blinked once before asking, "What do you mean, Sister Chaos Moon?"

She answered with a smile, "It’s simple. After losing the War of Dawn City, the Northern Alliance is pissed off and looking for a place to vent all their frustration. If we leave the protection of Fortress of the Iron Halberd and taunt them now, they’ll definitely drop everything they’re doing and swarm us from every direction. How do you suppose we stop all these cities ourselves?"

I nodded. "Chaos Moon is correct. Now is not the time we go on the offense yet. Trying anything now while the Northern Alliance is still united would only be suicide."

Chaos Moon giggled happily. "Glad that I haven’t given you that kiss for nothing, hehe…"

He Yi immediately shot me a wary look. "What did you do this time…"

I would only look guilty if I protested my innocence, so I said, "Nothing. Do you really think that Chaos Moon is up to my standards?"

"I suppose that’s true…."

He Yi smiled and nodded, but I was sure that her thoughts were the opposite of her words. Lin Yixin was probably the only woman in the entire world she could tolerate being in a relationship with me, not that I had any plans to woo another woman. A fickle man was a dead man after all.

……

Li Chengfeng continued to analyze the situation, "Eternal Love City is an important strategic location that stands between Hero City, Titan City, Wind City and the Chaotic 27. Unless the heads of the Northern Alliance collectively lost their minds overnight, they should never have agreed to surrender Eternal Love City to us. If China successfully seizes Eternal Love City, we can absolutely use it as a forward base to attack their cities. We may even be able to devour the entire north one day."

He Yi nodded approvingly. "Chengfeng is correct. The Northern Alliance isn’t stupid—quite the opposite, everything they’ve done in the War of Dawn City such as raiding our supply lines, attacking another city to split up our forces, splitting up our encirclement and more showed that they’re far shrewder than we initially imagined—so it makes no sense that they would give up Eternal Love City for free."

Chaos Moon leaned against a totem pole and tapped the hilt of her sword against the throne absentmindedly, "So, what are they really plotting here?"

My eyes turned steely all of a sudden. "Assuming that you’re the Northern Alliance, who would be your most hated enemy? Which forces would you want to remove more than anyone else?"

Li Chengfeng exclaimed in realization, "That would be Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls! You mean to say that the Northern Alliance is plotting against us!?"

"That’s right!"

I clenched my fists tightly before continuing, "We are Vienna’s Sorrow greatest enemies, and someone as smart as him would never ignore such an obvious threat without good reason. Just the same, Chariot City is just itching to take revenge for the 100000-strong Behemoth Cavalry and Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry we killed."

Gui Guzi asked quietly, "If what you say is true, then they must be close to taking up arms very soon. But why are there no signs yet?"

"Signs?"

I smiled. "Assuming that the Northern Alliance wants to deal a severe blow to our guild, shouldn’t you already know what their first target would be?"

This time, it was He Yi who exclaimed in realization, "Dark Moon City! They’re going to attack Dark Moon City!"

Li Chengfeng also looked shocked. "Holy shit, they’re really setting their eyes on our city!? Those motherfuckers! But how are they going to come here?"

I waved my hand in front of me and brought up the world map. "Looking at the map, we know there’s no way they can attack us by land because the Fortress of the Iron Halberd and Dawn City is standing in their way. That leaves only one possibility left: the sea! In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that the Northern Alliance’s naval fleet is on their way already!"

Gui Guzi’s eyes widened. "These bastards are crossing the Black Sea to attack us?!"

"That’s right!"

I nodded. "Even if they failed to occupy our city, they could deal enough damage to reduce our combat strength tremendously. After that, all they need to do is to ramp up the pressure until we are utterly crushed. Once Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is gone, who else is left to stop Vienna’s Sorrow’s path of conquest? Candle Dragon, Hall of Immortality, Thunder? How could they possibly be a match for him?"

……

"Unbelievable. These cowards are planning to ambush us from the sea?" Du Thirteen exclaimed in disbelief, and beside him Xue Lu was nodding as well. "Lu Chen, are you sure about this?"

I gave him a helpless smile. "I wish I was wrong too, but the chances of this being wrong are pretty low to be honest!"

He Yi took over and declared with determination, "Tell all our members to return to Dark Moon City and prepare for war right away! Tell Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and Baidicheng that we need help to intercept the Northern Alliance’s fleet as well!"

"Understood!"

I immediately carried out the order and informed them all four ally guild leaders about the crisis Dark Moon City was facing. At the same time, we received confirmation from a China exchange student in Korea that an army of 10 million had rallied at the shores of Black Coast, entered their ships and were sailing toward us right now. It would only take them three hours to reach Dark Moon City!

……

After that, I summoned the Armored Ice Qilin Horse and led my generals and elites toward the shores of Black Coast first. There was a big harbor there where players could purchase warships for naval warfare. These warships could also ferry players and engage other enemy ships in melee battle.

Our allies answered our cry for help and came through the teleportation formation. It wasn’t long before a cheerful-looking Lin Yixin led Snowy Cathaya out of the gates and rode over to us. When she arrived, she said, "It’s been non-stop warring as of late, eh? The timing’s perfect though. It’s a study week this time around, so I can fully concentrate on this naval battle!"

I shot her a glance. "Shouldn’t you be studying for the upcoming exam?"

"Why would I?" Lin Yixin looked at me in surprise. "I barely even attended any classes. It’s way too late to start studying now."

I nodded. "Yiyi is truly a model student!"

Stranger of Three Lifetimes and Ling Xueshang showed up next, and they both looked at the shores with excitement on their faces. "I’m so excited. We’re finally playing the defender on our home ground for once, and it’s a naval battle no less!"

I asked them all, "How many troops can you spare, my friends? Our naval army is vastly outnumbered by the enemy’s, so please note that there’s a high chance that we’re all gonna be wiped out in combat."

Lin Yixin replied, "Snowy Cathaya’s main guild and subguilds will be arriving very soon. There are about 500k of us."

Strangers of Thee Lifetimes replied, "Blazing Hot Lips is more or less the same, maybe slightly more than that to be exact."

Ling Xueshang: "The Monarch Descends can afford 400k troops."

Come See The Snow Tonight: "Baidicheng can only afford 250k troops."

He Yi added, "Many of our subguilds reached Rank 6 for the past two days, so our total player count is over 300k."

……

I thought for a moment before saying, "2 million people, huh? That’s perfect. Let’s buy 2000 warships and load 1000 people onto each. Eve, prepare to fork the money…"

Each big warship cost 10000 RMB, so this was absolutely a war of financial power and manpower. That being said, He Yi could definitely afford 20 million with Raincube supporting her, not to mention that the money in her individual account far exceeded this number. As the president of the Raincube Corporation, her total assets were worth over 1 billion. This level of expenditure was nothing to her!

……

Swhoosh swhoosh swhoosh…

It didn’t take long for the seashore to become jam-packed with 2000 dark red warships. It was an impressive sight, and as the buyer He Yi owned all of them. The boarding began after she shared the usage rights with all five guilds. The Northern Alliance’s ten-million-strong army must not be allowed to reach the shore, or Dark Moon City would suffer massive damage. Our only chance was to intercept them on the sea and crush them completely!