Two days passed by in the blink of an eye. I was able to grind my level up to 221, and my military title to Rank 7, Bloody General. This meant that my experience requirement was reduced by 11%. Moreover, we were able to accumulate the resources Sophie needed within 72 hours, triggering a massive counterassault from Purple Grape City. Leading the invasion herself, Sophie and her NPC armies had crossed over Thunder Mountain Range and Dragonbone Mountain Range to arrive at Vanished God City directly. With Karinshan’s Sky City Legion and the players acting as her backup, she was able to regain all the lost ground including the three tier 2 cities in Vanished God City. When the NPC legions finally reached Vanished God City and surrounded it, Coldblade was so scared that he actually abandoned his own army and escaped back to the infinite Purgatory.

It took us only 7 hours to retake Vanished God City completely. The Northern Alliance had tried to hamper our progress, but Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Candle Dragon, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips and more super guilds had joined forces to plug all the entrances to Vanished God City from Dragonbone Mountain Range. Without Cyan Earth City and Swallow Ear Canton’s assistance, the Northern Alliance lacked the strength necessary to overcome our defenses, so their plan was halted before it could even bear fruit.

In fact, the Northern Alliance was stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. The players of the Chaotic 27—Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia and more—had migrated to Seven Star City immediately upon acquiring it. The total population of the 27 countries was around 1.1 billion, and 5% of them played Heavenblessed. This meant that they had a player population of 55 million, and more than half of that—around 30 million or so—had migrated to Seven Star City. It was an insane amount of people to say the least. Worse, the USA server didn’t dare to launch a frontal assault because they were afraid that the Chinese would take the opportunity to attack Titan City through Fortress of the Iron Halberd. If we succeeded, they would truly be in deep trouble.

……

The third day early in the morning, I grabbed my phone and opened Heavenblessed’s home page the moment I woke up from my dreams. As I thought, the headline slapped at the top was incredibly invigorating—

"The China server successfully retook Vanished God City and the three tier 2 cities, returning to the strength of two tier 1 main cities and six tier 2 cities! After the Dragonheart Knight, Prince Cloudway rebuilt Vanished God City, Karinshan dispatched a great amount of troops to help protect it and conferred Cloudway the title of Duke, officially appointing him as the guardian of Vanished God City.

I smiled. It took a while, but we definitely set on the path of reconstruction. Although Sky City was still unavailable, it was as good as ours. Four days later, after Karinshan and her troops had returned to Sky City, we would be able to make use of it once more. On a related note, Sky City had officially entered into a military alliance with the Violet Empire. Although Queen Sophie and Shadow Dancer Xue Wei were able to defend their city successfully, they recognized that what had happened to Sky City could easily happen to them as well. Karinshan had also been able to set down her prejudice against the undead. Long story short, the two powerhouses had become truly united for the first time, and the next time the wolves invaded the Center, they must face the Violet Empire’s undead cavalry as well.

……

After I got out of bed and finished breakfast with the girls, I said while drinking a glass of lukewarm water, "Sky Vortex will be opening in one and a half hours. What are your thoughts? Do you want to enter the Ruins of the Gods and search for our Ancient Divine Skills immediately, or give it some time?"

He Yi replied, "I’m Level 215 now, so I’m qualified to enter the Sky Vortex. However… the competition at the beginning will be incredibly fierce, and each Ancient Divine Skill is guarded by a guardian boss. In my opinion, we should wait for say, 10 hours after Sky Vortex is opened before we enter. Right now, there are 187 eighth-promotion players who are over Level 210 in China, and there’s more than a thousand all over the world. For Mingyue, Lian Xin and I at least, I think we should wait until they’ve whittled themselves down during these 10 hours. After all, we don’t have an invisibility skill like you. We cannot roam the Ruins of the Gods alone…"

I nodded. "Yes, Eve is correct. Sky Vortex is a hellish trial ground and not the treasure map most people seem to think it is. Without sufficient strength, it would be suicide to venture inside, not to mention that we know nothing about the map at all. I may as well scout out the place for you girls…"

"How should we contact you then?"

"Just knock on my gaming helmet or speak to me right next to my ear so I can hear you. I won’t be able to respond to you though."

"We know!"

"Alright, I’m going online. We’ll speak again after we reach Sky Vortex!"

"Okay!"

……

Swhoosh!

I went to the potion NPC and filled my bag with potions the moment I appeared in Dark Moon City. I also made sure I bought a sufficient amount of cards and other consumables as well. The trial of Sky Vortex was a cruel dialogue between the absolute best players in the entire world, and the importance of an Ancient Divine Skill couldn’t be understated. Anyone who was killed after they entered the Sky Vortex would basically lose their chance to enter the Heavenly River Realm permanently. It was both incredibly cruel and exciting!

After I repaired my equipment and prepared everything, I summoned the Ancient Divine Dragon, jumped on its back and searched for the coordinates of Sky Vortex. With my mount’s speed, it should take only 30 minutes or so to arrive. For normal players though, a cavalryman would need to travel for 2 hours at least, and a foot soldier would take even longer.

My dragon let out a long cry before taking to the sky. On the way, I saw countless players including those who weren’t Level 210 yet making their way toward Sky Vortex. They were probably heading over to join in on the fun.

While I was flying over the forest, I saw Warsky heading toward the Sky Vortex with a group of Warsky Alliance players as well. The guild leader was raising his shoulder high to show off the silver CGL Hall of Fame emblem on his shoulder and guffawing. "Guys and girls, today we’re going to grind at the map where Sky Vortex is until we’re Level 210, okay? The first 13 people to hit Level 210 and complete their eighth-promotion quests will get to head inside. While inside, everyone should head to coordinate (0, 0) and wait until all the others have arrived. Everything’s faster and easier with enough numbers, right?"

They all nodded and cheered in unison. "The boss is wise!"

What should I even say about this? I was about to take my leave when Warsky looked up and saw me. "Oh, Lu Chen! You’re heading over now?"

"Yeah. Don’t mind me. Just take your time…"

"Sure. Please don’t attack any Warsky Alliance player when you get there, okay?"

"Don’t worry, I won’t harm anyone with a 5-star red flag on their shoulder!"

"Okay! Good luck! Go get ‘em god-tier Ancient Divine Skills!"

"Heh, you’re welcome. Later!"

My little dragon let out a low growl, and I vanished into the horizon like a dark silver rainbow, stunning all the Warsky Alliance players on the ground. "Holy shit, that mount is super fast! Looks like flying dragon mounts are the future of cavalry after all!"

The corner of Warsky’s mouth twitched. "Please, getting a dragon egg is harder than winning the 5 million jackpot of a Mark 6 lottery!"

Song of Ice and Fire smirked. "You’re not entirely right. If you could buy a giant dragon’s egg with just 5 million RMB, China would be overrun by dragon knights already."

God Bone was smirking as well. "What can you do? Our country is overflowing with trust fund babies…"

Warsky responded ashen-faced, "Stop looking at me like that you bastards! I’m an entrepreneur, not a trust fund baby!"

"Excuse me? Your dad gave you your starting capital!"

"You’re going to grow gray hair if you keep minding the details, dude…"

"..."

……

Half an hour later, the Ancient Divine Dragon arrived at a canyon that was absolutely jam-packed with players. Some belonged to the Chaotic 27, some from the Northern Alliance, and some from China and India as well. Everyone was keeping to their sides. Small skirmishes were happening here and there, but because the map wasn’t open yet no one wanted to die and be teleported back to their respective cities.

I could spot a dark vortex spinning violently at the center of the canyon, and a blue zone that kept anyone from entering. Forty minutes later, this barrier would probably disappear, and let everyone nearby to be teleported into the Ruins of the Gods.

……

I made the Ancient Divine Dragon hover in midair and overlook the ground. The Ancient Divine Dragon let out a mighty roar and immediately attracted the attention of the Northern Alliance players on the ground. They looked up at me and shouted in overt anger, "It’s Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand, the bastard who got the MVP again! Motherfucker, he was the MVP of the War of Dawn City and the WEL already, and now he’s the MVP of the War of the Center too! Someone get up there and kill him!"

The Northern Alliance players were pissed off, but none of them could do anything against me. The melee players obviously couldn’t reach me, and the archers who used Far Shot quickly discovered that I was too high up in the air, and that their arrows could only bounce harmlessly off the Ancient Divine Dragon’s steel-like scales, resulting in a MISS.

I ignored them, but didn’t hide my disdainful smirk.

Suddenly, a black shadow appeared from the opposite side of the sky. It was none other than Vienna’s Sorrow on his black dragon. He stopped a suitable distance away from me and shot me a cold look, but it didn’t look like he was planning to fight me. Well, he didn’t have much of a chance even if he tried. My new Ghost Spirit War Boots had an active skill called Ghost Spirit Step Art that nullified 75% of the attacks I received for 15 seconds. I wouldn’t mind teaching Vienna’s Sorrow a lesson in sorrow if he tried to engage me.

I could fight Vienna’s Sorrow now, but I wanted to do it after he passed through the Sky Vortex and entered the Ruins of the Gods. It was because killing him there would mean removing his chance to enter the Heavenly River Realm forever, thus removing a super threat from the China server permanently!

On the ground, Breeze and Rain watched me coldly as he ordered, "Archers, get ready to knock Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand from his dragon with Shock Arrows later. He mustn’t be allowed to enter the Sky Vortex without a fight. The Sky Vortex is very close to Cyan Earth City, so it only makes sense that it belongs to us!"

All the Cyan Earth City players nodded in unison.

I heard his command, but still I kept calm and didn’t rise to the provocation. Some distance away, a large party belonging to China was watching me as well. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that I was their symbol of power and the source of their confidence right now. No one was going to give up this tournament without a fight because of how OP the Ancient Divine Skill would undoubtedly be. A skill that bypassed guard, crushed parries, couldn’t be evaded and ignored invincibility skills. This meant that the ultimate combo, invincibility + return scroll, would be a thing of the past. I would no longer let opportunities slip through my grasp.

……

Time passed bit by bit. Then, the countdown finally began—

10!

9!

8!

……

Breeze and Rain narrowed his eyes and began moving into position. The second the countdown hit zero, countless Cyan Earth City players swung their weapons and fired their Barrier Breaks at me!

I activated Fusion Armor as the Ancient Divine Dragon descended. It immediately scattered into sparks of light before solidifying around certain parts of my body. Making sure to avoid the area where Breeze and Rain was, I crashed right on top of a group of players and used War Crush!

Boom!

A group of Beast King Cavalrymen groaned in pain as they were knocked backward. At least half of them had been one-shot by the skill!

After that, I dashed into the Sky Vortex and felt its powerful magic pulling me into a different space.

Idiots. Did they really think they could stop me from entering the Sky Vortex?