Even JGL Hall of Famers like Red Maple and Purple Thunder had chosen to escape, so of course the remaining Purple Grape City players had lost their will to fight. Those who were still in combat ran like hell in hopes of leaving the combat state and teleporting back to their city.

Unfortunately for them, every Sky City player within the vicinity was pissed off and looking to vent, and they were the perfect targets for that purpose. The Dragonlight Cavalry, Purple Thunder Cavalry, Frostscale Cavalry and more spread out and chased after them like crazy, turning the battle on the plains turned into a slaughterfest.

……

On the Nation War UI, the number of Purple Grape City players in Floating Ice City dropped lower and lower. It first dropped drastically from 1.2 million to 70k, then 70k to below 10k, and finally from 10k to just a couple hundred.

This was the last golden opportunity to earn some contribution points, and no one was stupid enough to let it slip through their hands. The tally wouldn’t stop until 72 hours later, or until a decisive victor between the Japanese server and the Chinese server had emerged. We would launch an attack on Purple Grape City itself and take revenge after this battle was over, but until then now was the best time to earn some easy contribution points.

Suddenly, another group of players emerged from the edge of the forest. They looked very familiar, and they were all women. They were none other than the players of Twelve Musicians. Many of them had dropped below Level 100, and their guild leader, Hugging Bears in Silence, herself was only Level 70+. They slowly walked up to me, He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Lian Xin.

"Thank you for everything you’ve done today. Especially Lu Chen."

Hugging Bears in Silence said with a nod, "Thank you for putting yourself in danger and saving us at the beginning of the battle. Right now there’s nothing we can offer you besides our thanks. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls ever needs us for anything in the future, the Twelve Musicians guild promises to fulfill your request, even if it means losing all our levels again!"

He Yi smiled gently at her. "You’re welcome. We are all Sky City players. It’s only natural that we help each other out."

Hugging Bears in Silence looked at me and asked, "Is that acceptable, Lu Chen?"

I thought for a moment before replying, "To be honest, sister, I think you should focus on leveling your girls back to Level 150 and seventh promotion before even thinking about thanking anyone. Otherwise, there’s nothing you can do for us even if we have any need of you some day. Also, you should probably change your rules and start accepting some guys to your guild as well. You should be aware that this game’s male-to-female player ratio is 2.1:1, meaning that the large majority of the experts are male. By accepting only female players, you’re rejecting at least 60% of male experts that could’ve saved you today."

"Mn, I understand." Hugging Bears in Silence nodded before smiling like the breaking dawn. "When this Nation War is over, I’ll set up a couple of subguilds and change our rules to accept the male gender. We will then absorb those who are strong enough into our main guild. After this bloodbath, I finally understand the one true way to protect ourselves is to become stronger."

Suddenly, Chaos Moon interrupted our conversation and said, "You know, you can just join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. We don’t have enough girls in the guild anyway."

My heart skipped a beat as I shot Chaos Moon a glare. This wasn’t a good time to recruit Twelve Musicians. It would be like taking advantage of them while they were down.

As expected, Hugging Bears in Silence shook her head with an apologetic smile. "To be honest, I wouldn’t mind joining Ancient Sword and becoming friends with famous experts like Lu Chen, Gui Guzi, Li Chengfeng and more. However, most of my sisters don’t want to become the subguild of another guild, and their wishes take priority over mine. I hope you understand."

I nodded immediately. "I completely understand your reasoning. Please don’t take Chaos Moon’s words to heart, she’s just having a sudden case of aneurysm. Actually, I have an idea. Do you want to become allies? We can add each other right now. Also, I suggest that you move your guild to Sky City or Dark Moon City. Those are the best places to recruit first-rate players."

"Mn, sure!" Hugging Bears in Silence replied happily.

A moment later, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Twelve Musicians officially became allies, and I purposely emphasized the greatness of Dark Moon City. "Remember, allies of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls get to enjoy a 30% discount on everything in our city. Don’t miss it! If it isn’t obvious enough, I’m strongly suggesting your guild to develop itself at Dark Moon City. The mobs there are pretty high-level and great for the development of any guild."

The guild leader chuckled. "Understood, but not right away. Right now, my sisters are too weak to grind in such high-level maps, so the plan is to stay at Dawn City for around half a month and grind until we’re Level 150 again. Only then will we travel to Dark Moon City. I hope you won’t change your mind then!"

"No worries!" He Yi said, "You are now our ally, and Ancient Sword never treats their allies poorly. Grow fast and strong, Twelve Musicians! We can always use a powerful ally!"

"Mn!" Hugging Bears in Silence shot us one last look before saying, "This is where we bid goodbye then. We’re too weak to participate in this Nation War anyway."

I smiled. "What do you mean? You fought at the start of the Nation War, didn’t you?"

"Haha, right…"

Hugging Bears in Silence left with her guildmates after coming to an understanding with Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, leaving only the sight of her steady but determined back. Not every girl could lose this many levels, suffer such a huge blow and remain strong, so I knew in that moment I made the right choice to ally with them. Twelve Musicians was a guild with great potential. Now that they had resolved to become strong, they would definitely become one of the strongest guilds in China. After all, one of the key elements to becoming a super guild was unity, and even at their current state Twelve Musicians was as united as they could be. It was a rare trait to be appreciated.

……

I looked up. The sky was red due to the inferno God’s Domain had started. Forests and towns were alight with flames, and let’s not forget that the city itself was still in an abandoned state. Although we managed to repel Purple Grape City’s invasion in the end, this was still quite the painful situation we had to contend with. Not all was lost, however. When the Nation War was over, we could seek out Princess Karinshan and apply to reclaim Floating Ice City. We wouldn’t even need to do it ourselves, the NPCs would take care of it. A lot of high-level mobs had appeared around the city after it was abandoned, but it hadn’t been occupied by the Night Creatures. Therefore, it wouldn’t be a problem to reclaim it.

"Hmph!"

Li Chengfeng snorted coldly as he stared at the inferno. "I can’t believe that Red Maple actually got away after he invaded our borders with over ten million troops, flattened Floating Ice City and burned so much of our forests. These treacherous Japanese!"

I shrugged. "The monk can run away, but the temple won't run with him. We’ll get him sooner or later!"

Li Chengfeng laughed in understanding. "Well, what are we going to do now?"

I checked the time and said, "Let’s rest and reorganize a bit. All players who participated in the war should log out and rest for 9 hours. Warsky Alliance, Snowy Cathaya and Mad Dragon can guard White Rose Fortress while we’re gone. In 9 hours, we’ll log back into the game and launch an all-out assault on Purple Grape City. We’ll give them a taste of their own medicine and teach them a lesson they’ll never forget!"

"Yeah, we can definitely use the rest. It’s been 12 hours at least since we came online."

"Yeah…"

It was at this moment the guild leaders of Snowy Cathaya, Warsky Alliance, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips, Mad Dragon, Flower Room, Pop Culture and Sword Lord of Jianghu walked toward us. It was obvious why they were here. It was time to discuss the next step of our strategy.

Warsky was the first person to greet me with a smile, "Who would’ve thought that this battle would end so soon? I’m amazed you noticed that backdoor that led to their flanks, and even more amazed that you managed to defeat the enemy in one go. Is there anything you don’t know, Lu Chen?"

I shot him a glance and said, "Save the sarcasm to yourself and 1v1 me if you dare. You came so late I don’t even wanna talk to you right now."

"Ahem, well, Purple Grape City just had way too many casual guilds licking their boots. If we didn’t kill them all, there’s a chance they could’ve affected the battle. Why do you think Ancient Sword was able to fight God’s Domain without distractions? In fact, shouldn’t you thank me for giving you such a big pie all to yourself?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Thank you? We were 70k cavalry strong when we ambushed the enemy, and now there are less than 20k of us left! Pie? This is a fucking steel plate you left me! We would’ve lost an incisor or two if we made too many wrong moves!"

Dominating Heaven Blade interrupted with a laugh, "Enough with the flirting, you two. Let’s talk about strategy. What should we do next? We’re not going to let Purple Grape City go scot free, are we?"

Li Chengfeng nodded. "Dominating Heaven Blade is right. Purple Grape City must be destroyed."

Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "Blazing Hot Lips is currently resting in Sky City, but we are ready to go at any moment. Just give us the word."

The assassin Moonkiss appeared next and said with a smile, "Sister Wang Luo sent me over to inform you that the battle in Wind City is almost over. Long story short, Purple Lily will do their best when the counterattack against Purple Grape City begins. The humiliation they dealt to us must not go unanswered."

Ling Xueshang added, "Yep. The only question left is how we should fight this!"

However, I pursed my lips and said, "Eh, we can strategize after all ten guilds are here. Candle Dragon hasn’t even arrived yet, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls needs at least ten hours to rest up. Not everyone can handle fighting a stressful war for so long, not to mention that the call of the toilet is irresistable, yeah?"

It was at this moment the vice leader of Sword Lord of Jianghu, Now and Forever walked up to us and said, "Rest? If we’re really going to launch a counter invasion, the last thing we need to do is rest and give Purple Grape City the chance to take a breather! We should launch an all-out assault with everyone now and take down Purple Grape City as soon as possible!"

I merely shot him a glance and said nothing.

Warsky couldn’t keep his mouth zipped, however. "Yo, this is a meeting between the Top 10 guilds of China, right? Who the fuck are you to be ordering around? Seriously, who the fuck do you think you are, bro?!"

Now and Forever gritted his teeth. "You have balls, Warsky. Sword Lord of Jianghu is the representative of China VR Department, and this is a matter of the bigger picture. You wouldn’t understand."

Farewell Song interrupted while toying with his dagger, "Save the boasting for yourself, man. What the fuck is the VR Department anyway? What did you guys do when the Northern Alliance invaded? Who led us to victory during the War of Dawn City?"

Furious-looking, Now and Forever tried, "What are you talking about? We did play a part in the victory of War of Dawn City…"

"Holy shit! Is that it? You don’t want your face anymore?" Moonkiss actually started toward Now and Forever in order to slap the guy in the face.

Chiang! I abruptly plunged my sword into the ground and said, "Enough. Half of the battles of War of Dawn City were won by me, and if you want to dispute that you can check the forums yourself. Right now, I’m saying that my brothers and sisters have been fighting for too long, and not even god himself is going to stop us from feeding and sleeping unless Sky City is under attack right now!"

High Fighting Spirits and Gui Guzi immediately raised their weapons and chanted, "FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!"

"Damn…" Warsky said amusedly, "Ancient Sword sure is a funny bunch…"

……

Suddenly, I received a message from Hot and Sour Noodles: "Bad news, Lu Chen!"