My heart skipped a beat when I saw the Jiuzhou Han’s stats. I knew that my new weapon would be ungodly powerful since it absorbed the legendary Xuanyuan Sword itself, but I had no idea that it would be this powerful. It, no, she, would definitely be my key to win the next Nation War—

Jiuzhou Han (Ancient Divine Armament, Outstanding★★★★★★★★★)

Attack: 15000~17500

Strength: +2950

Stamina: +2700

Agility: +2650

Intelligence: +2500

Tactics: +305

Passive: Increases user’s Attack by 245%

Passive: Increases user’s splash effect by 70%

Passive: When swinging Jiuzhou Han, 15% chance to deal septuple damage. The effect stacks with critical hits.

Slots: 18 (15)

Outstanding Property: Mountain Crush. When attacking a target, has a small chance to destroy the opponent’s equipment durability and render it useless. When attacking a building or a mine, greatly increase the shatter effect.

Ancient 1: Xuanyuan Art. Activates the Xuanyuan Sword Spirit’s divine power. Raise the sword with its edge facing the front to activate “Life”, restoring 50% HP to all allies within 1000 yards. Raise the sword with its blunt side toward your enemies to activate “Death” and deal 50% HP damage to all enemies within 1000 yards. Cooldown: 6 minutes. Cost: 100% MP.

Ancient 2: Cold of the Nine Provinces. Freezes all players within 100 yards of the user for 7 seconds. Cooldown: 6 minutes.

Effect 1: Proficiency. Level Requirement is lowered by 35

Effect 2: Evolvable

Effect 3: Lifesteal. 20% of the damage dealt is converted into HP

Introduction: Jiuzhou Han is the result of the perfect fusion between the two ancient divine weapons, the Purple Ying Sword and the Xuanyuan Sword. The Xuanyuan Sword is a legendary Sword of the Sacred Way used to create the world during the Era of Gods. One side of the blade has celestial objects engraved into it, and the other side, nature. One side of the grip has the art of farming written on it, and the other side, the strategy to unite the four seas. After Jiuzhou Han inherited the Xuanyuan Sword’s divine power, the weapon also gained the power to rule over life and death. Used wisely, and it will bring happiness to the world. Used recklessly, it will cause war, death and destruction.

Level Requirement: 240

Reputation Requirement: 800000

……

For a long time, I simply knelt on the floor and stared at the stats screen in front of me. Overjoyed couldn’t even begin to describe my current feelings. Not only were my new weapon’s stats around 40% higher than the Purple Ying Sword’s, its two ancient properties could only be described as broken. Cold of Nine Provinces froze all enemy units within 100 yards of me, making it far, far better than Purple Marquis’s Absolute Zero. Xuanyuan Art was even more broken, giving me the option to either restore 50% HP to all allies within 1000 yards of me, or remove 50% HP from all enemies within the same range depending on how I held the weapon. This divine weapon was practically born for Nation Wars! I knew that the description stated that it could be used for the good of the people, but in my hands, it would only be used for the destruction of my enemies!

I clenched the grip of the Jiuzhou Han tightly and felt its cold aura flowing into my body. There was an even bigger surge of righteous energy that chased away my exhaustion and invigorated me like magic. The Jiuzhou Han was a 9-star Outstanding Divine Armament, and as far as I was aware, nine stars was literally the highest rating any equipment could get!

I checked my stats again and noted it was really starting to go out of control—

ID: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand (Title: The Frostblade of Death)

Class: Master Swordsman of Death

Level: 211

HP: 623820

Attack: 30050~33970

Defense: 48865

Magic Resist: 44920

Reputation: 879400

Tactics: 1567

Luck: 86

……

The lower limit of my Attack had exceeded 30k, so that was a huge improvement. The Jiuzhou Han also increased my Intelligence by 2500, making me much more resistant to God Devil Break. In the future, only super mages like Lian Xin or Luo River God of the Capital could really threaten me.

Another while later, I decided that I blanked out long enough, and that it was time to move on. A lot of things must have happened while I was inside here. At any rate, one of the nine SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scrolls had fallen into my hands. My feat… wasn’t irreplicable per se, but I couldn’t imagine anyone pulling it off without considerably more planning and effort. The Sacred Beast Tianyuan was a monster that couldn’t be beaten through sheer numbers alone, and even I had to die over 30 times before I finally defeated it. Most players should be thankful that they even got an SS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll.

In that sense, High Fighting Spirits was one of the luckiest mofos out there. The Xing Tian’s Defiance had practically dropped in his lap after just a fight or two. That being said, it was absolutely worth investing in him. He had already proven himself to be an unstoppable force in every Nation War, I was sure that the Heavenly River Transformation was going to make him almost invincible!

Right. Less daydreaming, more getting the hell out of this place!

……

I rose to my feet, and Jiuzhou Han glistened a faint golden in my hand. It had inherited much of the Xuanyuan Sword’s appearance, but its attribute was obviously slanted toward ice. I liked it though. Ice-type powers could slow opponents, and there was nothing more useful than that in a duel between peak experts.

I slowly returned to the pond I had come from and stepped inside. Now that I knew what to do, I held the Jiuzhou Han in my teeth, activated Great Earth Transformation, and slowly swam away from the abode.

As I thought, I was caught by the powerful whirlpool again and spun in the opposite direction. About 5 minutes later, I was spat out of the center, and I landed in calmer water. I opened the map screen just in case, but I was glad to see that I was back at the Ji River, or the Ruins of the Gods in general. I wondered how the others were doing, but there was still nothing I could do about it since contact was forbidden until I exited this place.

I canceled my Fusion Armor after I swam back to the shore. My quest to search for an Ancient Divine Skill Scroll was complete, and now my goal had changed to helping my fellow countrymen and attacking my enemies. However, there was a small problem. Because I hadn’t used the skill scroll yet, its image floated above my head just like how it did with the other bosses. I would be a target no matter where I went. This meant that I must avoid the ground as much as possible. For one, I didn’t want to be ambushed by assassins even if I could see them coming. Two, there was the thousand-year-old saying called "man beyond man, mountains beyond mountains." I was the best player in the world until I wasn’t, so I must never let down my guard no matter what.

So I climbed up the Ancient Divine Dragon and flew up until I was around 200 meters above the ground. My plan was to circle around the area before deciding a course of action. Suddenly, the scroll in my bag vibrated almost as if it could sense another Ancient Divine Skill. In fact, when I checked the map screen, I could see a dot—a cave to be exact—labeled with the text SSS. It had to be the other Chinese SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill. There was a problem though. The entrance to the cave alone was crawling with over a hundred Level 275 fiend-rank monsters. Even as I was now, going there alone would be suicide, not to mention that I hadn’t even learned the Xuanyuan Slash yet. It would be unwise to let my greed get to me.

I was really starting to grow concerned for the others, but they were still nowhere to be seen. In the end, I decided to head north because there was a wide forest there. Logically speaking, it should have more players than other locations.

My deduction was spot-on. Less than two minutes into my flight, a couple of dots entered my Dark Pupils’ view.

……

Whoosh!

The leaves of a shrubbery shuddered unnaturally for a moment until a rider suddenly burst out of it. He was none other than Dominating Heaven Blade. The guy’s mouth was etched in a grim frown as he swore loudly, "What the fuck is wrong with these people? Why do they keep chasing me?"

As if on cue, a couple more riders burst out from the same shrubbery. They were Blood Roar Cavalrymen from Cyan Beast, and there were four of them in total. Last I remembered, Cyan Beast had looked like they were planning to push their entire guild into the Ruins of the Gods. It didn’t take a genius to know how determined God of War and Breeze and Rain were to get something out of the Ruins of the Gods. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if their goal was to claim all 9 SSS Rank scrolls for themselves.

I swooped down like a hawk and activated my new weapon skill, Cold of Nine Provinces. Snow instantly fell from the sky, and all four Blood Roar Cavalrymen became encased in ice. After that, it was simply a matter of finding the right spot so that I could hit all of them with Burning Blade Slash + Summon the Storm + Myriad Swords Obliteration. They died as a matter of course.

Dominating Heaven Blade stared at me in shock. "Damn, Lu Chen! You got an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill Scroll already?"

"Yeah. Why are you alone, man?" I asked.

"Sigh. I was together with Arrow God and Knight God, but the enemy managed to split us up. Arrow God is probably dead, and I saw at least 200 Cyan Earth City players at the forest plains directly ahead from here. Speaking of which, your From Water, Wind Fantasy, Lian Xing and more are all there! The Indians are going crazy trying to bring them down, no matter the cost!"

"Are you serious!?"

I hurriedly ascended back to the sky while saying, "I need to go! Take care, Dominating Heaven Blade!"

"Yeah!"

……

I flew toward the north where Dominating Heaven Blade said everyone was at. As expected, less than 5 minutes later, countless red dots and orange dots entered my minimap.

The plains were covered in dust clouds kicked up by galloping mounts. He Yi, Lin Yixin, Gui Guzi, Heaven’s Rain, Diamond Dust and Xu Yang were all together. He Yi was carrying Lian Xin on her mount, and Lin Yixin was leading Purple Marquis and the rest of Snowy Cathaya away from the enemy. Behind them, a large Cyan Earth City group, about two hundred men strong, was pursuing them just as Dominating Heaven Blade had told me. It was bad enough that everyone in the group was elite, but Breeze and Rain, the fresh Wind Dragon Rider of theirs, was among them!

"There’s too many of them, Sister He Yi! You guys, try and get as far away as possible while I hold the enemy back for a bit!"

Lin Yixin shouted as she brandished her Seven Star Veluriyam Sword and turned around to face the enemy.

He Yi also did the same thing and said, "We may not have the numbers to beat them, but we certainly can deal enough damage that everyone can’t ascend to the Heavenly River Realm! Let’s do this!"

However, Gui Guzi cautioned, "Guild leader, Breeze and Rain is a dragon rider now. I hate to say this, but I don't think we’ll be able to kill him or God of War!"

"It’s still better than to go down without a fight! Activate your Knight God, and let’s go!" He Yi ordered.

"Yes ma’am!"

……

I couldn’t believe hardly believe my eyes. I was only fighting the Tianyuan for five to six hours, and it was as if I had returned to a different Ruins of the Gods or something. Of all the rotten luck that could descend on my friends and allies, it just had to be our strongest enemy in the world, the group led by the dragon rider Breeze and Rain himself! There was little chance the group of 30 made up of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends would be able to survive unless I helped them!

The countercharge led by Gui Guzi, He Yi and Lin Yixin successfully killed dozens of enemies, but they also lost seven to eight Kui Dragon and Dragonlight Cavalrymen in return; an unacceptable loss. Moreover, He Yi and Gui Guzi couldn’t defeat Breeze and Rain even after they worked together. Breeze and Rain was also smart enough to avoid Lin Yixin and focus on He Yi, successfully dropping her HP to just 25% or so.

……

"Go, little dragon!"

I growled menacingly and swooped down in a straight line.

For a moment, everyone on the battlefield could only stare at the sky in shock. They were especially stunned by the symbol above my head. "It’s Lu Chen! Is that… the light of an SSS Rank Ancient Divine Skill!?"

Breeze and Rain turned his blade and ordered, "Kill him! That SSS Rank scroll is ours!"

……

Fearless and bloodthirsty as ever, God of War charged straight toward me.

I didn’t hesitate to point the Death side of the blade at him and growled out, "Xuanyuan Art!"

Buzz!

The back side of the sword represented death, devils, and purgatory. A vortex spun rapidly above the sword, and the next moment, a golden ring appeared beneath everyone’s feet and deleted 50% of their HP. Even Breeze and Rain who was in the sky wasn’t able to avoid it.