Whoosh!

I pressed the Cyan Netherworld Sword against Baili’s neck. She closed her eyes. I could see her long eyelashes shivering a little. "Do it. You are a strong warrior, and I have no regrets dying in your hands. But you must remember my promise! Let father go and save White Horse City’s final bloodline. If you don’t, I will come for you even if I fall into the wheels of reincarnation or hell!"

My hand shook a little as conflicted emotions boiled inside my heart. I found myself incapable of steeling my heart and killing the girl who would surrender even her life to protect her homeland.

"Big bro, don’t do it…" Beiming Xue said softly.

Lian Xin also nodded. "Yeah, don’t kill her, Lu Chen… we’re here to occupy the city, not to kill her. I love her personality, and I’m willing to give up on the equipment drops if it means letting her live, so please, don’t do it. I’ll look down on you if you do!"

I turned around and asked her, "If I don’t kill Baili, I won’t be able to kill the king. And if I don’t kill the king, how are we supposed to occupy the city?"

Both girls couldn’t say anything to that.

It was at this moment Cute Little Naughty appeared on top of the palace and cried out to me, "Vice leader big bro, the Northern Alliance has been spotted outside the city! They’re only five minutes away from us!"

"Shit!"

Xu Yang slapped his thighs and said, "Lu Chen, decide quickly! If the Northern Alliance catches up with us, we won’t be able to teleport back to the city or worse, we’ll die here! The normal equipment drop rate on PvP death is 20%, but that’s still tens of thousands of top-tier pieces of equipment! It’ll be a tremendous loss!"

……

Lin Yixin stared at me for a moment. A long while later, she opened her lips and said, "Make your choice, Lu Chen. No matter what your decision might be, we’ll always love and support you…"

I closed my eyes and felt my arm shiver. I couldn’t bear to see the determination in Princess Baili’s eyes. She was the kind of person I would rather die than kill with my own two hands!

It was at this moment Li Chengfeng unsheathed his spear and declared, "If you cannot do it, then I will! I, Li Chengfeng, am not afraid to be scorned my whole life!"

Squelch!

The Augustus’ Spear sank into Baili’s chest. Just like that, her last sliver of HP was gone.

"Ugh…"

Stifling her groan of pain, Baili stared at me during her last moments and repeated, "Remember the promise! Remember the promise!"

……

Pop!

She died and dropped a floor of equipment. Everything was playing out as the game should.

I raised my sword and started walking toward the king. Behind me, Li Chengfeng let out a chuckle and asked me, "What are you doing? I thought you promised that beautiful princess not to kill her father. Don’t you want to keep your promise?"

I replied indifferently, "What kind of brother would I be if I let you make all the painful decisions? Let’s just assume that I lied to her. I’m not so great a man that I would sacrifice hundreds and thousands of brothers to keep one promise!"

I brought the Cyan Netherworld Sword above the king’s neck before swinging it down decisively. The king’s HP was infinitely close to zero, so one hit was all it took to send his head rolling across the stairs and drenching the floor in blood.

……

Ding~!

System Notice: You have killed the regent of White Horse City and gained 40000 Reputation. You now have the option to decide the city’s fate. Will you include the city into China’s domain or abandon it?

I chose the latter option without hesitation.

Ding~!

System Announcement: Attention all players, player "Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand" has killed the regent of White Horse City and chosen to abandon it. White Horse City is now abandoned and a free target for any force. However, players will not be able to attack White Horse City for 15 days. The victor of the Battle of White Horse City is China!

……

There was another ding, and the Nation War contribution point rewards were distributed. As the 3rd ranker, I was awarded Earth-grade leather armor and a level. With this, I officially reentered the Heavenly Ranking of Sky City as a Level 170 Undead Swordsman. Of course, it was just the 10th place, but it was still a pretty amazing achievement, all things considered.

Meanwhile, the entire city was dimming as it entered an abandoned state. By eliminating White Horse City, we had successfully cut off the one connection between the Northern Alliance and the Chaotic 27, and rolled back the war situation where it was every man and woman for themselves once more. At the very least, the Northern Alliance could no longer simply ignore the threat the Chaotic 27 represented and focus all their strength on our server anymore.

It wasn’t all good news, however. Outside the city, all four of our guilds were already engaging the enemy in combat. The Northern Alliance had finally arrived.

I stepped out of the palace and looked out to the plains. There were so many cavalrymen that I literally couldn’t see an end to it. There had to be at least a couple of million enemy players, and they had moved too swiftly for us to withdraw. Worse of all, they were the Northern Alliance’s true elites!

……

"Shit, we’re already fighting…" Li Chengfeng gripped his fists tightly. "Fuck! We’re going to lose a lot of people even if we withdraw now…"

I spurred my mount forward with a deep frown on my face. "Just look at their size. The Northern Alliance is clearly plotting to kill all of us here!"

Chaos Moon said, "Even if we withdraw now, at least a hundred thousand of us are going to be stuck in combat. There’s almost no chance they can teleport back to Sky City safely."

At the same time, Lian Xin pointed to the distance and said, "Look, that violent woman is riding toward the frontline…"

"What the fuck?"

It was as she said, Lin Yixin and Snowy Cathaya’s elites were riding toward the enemy. Clearly, the previous Nation War had failed to sate her bloodthirst, and she wasn’t going to let this chance slip by.

"What do we do now? Beauty Lin is so impulsive today…" Li Chengfeng said with a smile.

"I’ll call her back. There is no reason to continue when the Nation War is over, and our objective is achieved. We won’t even get any Nation War contribution points out of this."

"Yeah."

I immediately sent Lin Yixin a message: "Withdraw back to White Horse City now, Yiyi! Our mission is complete, and it’s pointless to fight any longer!"

Lin Yixin replied, "We will lose a lot of people if we withdraw in the middle of a battle. There’s no way I can let my brethren be slaughtered for nothing."

……

"What should we do?"

Li Chengfeng stared at the millions of enemy troops outside the city and said, "If we don’t go to hell, then who? We’ll draw the Northern Alliance’s attention and buy time for the others to retreat! If we are to be routed at the end of it, then so be it. Someone has to stay behind, so it might as well be us."

I pulled out my own weapon and smiled back. "Well said. Be ready to depart then!"

Suddenly, Lian Xin walked up to me and grabbed the chains of my metal armor. She said, "Big brother, I want to tell you something…"

"Oh? What is it?" I asked.

Murong Mingyue teased her, "Ooh, is it a secret? Are you going to share a girl’s secret with your big bro?"

Lian Xin blushed. "No!"

"Then what is it?"

Lian Xin started, "As you already know, my plan is to rejoin Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls after I return to the country. However, I don’t just want to be a corps commander. I want to be a vice leader!"

Murong Mingyue immediately pouted. "Oh no! My sister is plotting to usurp me before she even comes home, what should I do…"

Chaos Moon giggled in amusement. "Sister Mingyue, to be entirely honest with you, you really aren’t suited to be a vice leader. One, you are a priest. Two, Lian Xin’s a walking nuclear weapon of a mage, so it’s not actually a bad idea to have her manage the guild as the vice leader. Three, this is your chance to promote yourself to a mastermind and pull strings from behind the curtains."

I asked again, "Lian Xin, are you sure you want to become a vice leader?"

"Of course!"

Lian Xin nodded with a sweet smile on her face. "Back in Spirit of Grief, I wasn’t strong enough to contribute anything. It’s been over a year since, and Lian Xin had finally grown up to become a powerful player. I want to repay the guild, but if I want to do something truly meaningful, then I must become a vice leader. That is why I’m applying for the position now."

A meaningful smile crossed Murong Mingyue’s lips. "Well, continue. I’m sure you’re not done talking yet, right Lian Xin?"

The girl blinked once before continuing, "Well, yes. Frankly, over 90% of the guild’s players are complete strangers to me, and vice versa. Therefore, the only way to make them truly submit to me is to prove myself via true strength!"

I replied, "What do you mean?"

"Hehe…" Lian Xin pointed at the northern riders and said, "What I mean, is that you should leave these people to me. I’ll stall them while you all teleport back to Sky City."

I frowned. "But you’re just one person. You can’t possibly fight them all by yourself."

"Don’t worry!" Lian Xin giggled. "In fact, just watch me. If big brother Lu Chen can hold back an entire army by himself at Dawn City, then I can too! I’m not just proving my strength either. I’m going to show every Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls guild member that I, Lian Xing, can sacrifice myself for the guild as well!"

I still wanted to change her mind, but Murong Mingyue stopped me by saying, "Lu Chen, I know what you’re thinking, but let her. Lian Xin will be very sad if we refuse to give her the chance to prove her worthiness. Now, tell our allies to come back to us already!"

"Fine…"

……

We all withdrew into the heart of the palace while our guild members teleported back to the city. The rest of us pillars stayed behind to watch the battle from afar.

Outside the city, Lian Xin set foot on the yellow sand and declared loudly, "Snowy Cathaya, withdraw now and leave this place to me!"

As she said this, she started firing her Ice Spiral Matrix, Dimensional Storm and other AoE skills at the enemy, beating back their advance. Not even an elite cavalry like the Bloodthirsty Beast Cavalry could withstand her super magic at all. It wasn’t like Lian Xin was just standing there and waiting for the enemy to come to her either. She kept changing her position as she threw spell after spells at the enemy, damaging and killing tons of people. It wasn’t long before the Northern Alliance players unsheathed their weapons and shouted, "Fuck, she’s not one of our own! She’s a traitor! Kill her now!"

The ground shook as countless enemy troops charged toward her at once. Lian Xin continued running while stopping the enemy cavalry’s advance with Origin Force Fields and blasting them with large AoE spells. She looked like a leaf that could be engulfed by the sea of enemies around her at any moment, but the fact was that she was able to escape the jaws of death again and again. Every Dimensional Storm she threw was as deadly as a storm of death, and every enemy unfortunate enough to enter her attack range was treated to the fright of their life!