1570

Lin Yixin smiled at me as she lay limply against my chest. Her long eyelashes looked like they had caught a bit of dust. She tried to push herself to a standing position, but I held her still and said, "Stop. You’ve been logged in for 24 hours straight, haven’t you[1]?"

"Mn. Swallow Ear Canton was a tough bone to break, so…" she replied with a nod.

My heart ached like a bitch as I examined the fatigue trailing her expression. I looked around to take my mind off things for a bit. Breeze and Rain was nailed to the wall by a fiery scepter, and Flowing Cloud was lying face down on a heap of sand with a blood-drenched cape. She had been stabbed in the heart, and her killer was none other than the girl in my arms.

There were two other corpses slightly farther away from here. The first one I checked out was Little Piglet. He had a Level 220 sword in his hand, and he was sitting against a wall. His throat had been cut, but he clearly died with a smile on his face. Not far away from him was India’s number one mage, Lui Lok. He had a spear lodged in his chest, and if I remembered correctly, Little Piglet was the one who killed him. Finally, the third corpse was a handsome man lying face up in a pool of blood. His fists were clenched tightly even in death. He was none other than the man who killed the number one expert of India, God of War, the former Heavenly King of Eternal Moon, Lin Fan. He was Level 245 and his class was "Saint Peak Magic Knight”.

……

Seemingly noticing my puzzlement, Lin Yixin said softly, "I and a dozen or so Snowy Cathaya players were the only ones left after Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Luo River God of the Capital and the others died. Meanwhile, the enemy still had Flowing Cloud, Breeze and Rain, God of War and Lui Lok. As you might have noticed, we weren’t supposed to have won this battle. Thankfully, Breeze Break appeared at the last moment and pulled off one of the best helix maneuvers I’ve ever seen. Not only did he dodge God of War’s attacks four times in a row, he single-handedly deleted 40% of God of War’s HP with insane attack speed. Unfortunately, he was ultimately killed by Flowing Cloud’s Ancient Divine Skill… Who is that guy? He’s as good as Candlelight Shadow and me…"

I replied quietly, "Lin Fan."

"I see. The first Heavenly King…"

"Mn."

"What about the other guy, Piglike Opponent? He’s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I’ve never noticed him until now. His skills are pretty good, and his timely intervention was the only reason I managed to escape Breeze and Rain’s combo."

"He’s Little Piglet…" I smiled at her. "It’s a secret, okay?"

Lin Yixin was a smart girl. She nodded with a look of understanding. "Ah, I see. I’ll definitely keep it a secret. Oh right, we’ve already killed Swallow Ear Canton’s regent and chosen to abandon the city. The war here is already over."

I exhaled. "Mn. Well done, Yiyi. Of course, that goes to everyone else who died—Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo, Farewell Song and more—as well… Not only did you manage to take out Swallow Ear Canton, you’ve neutralized all of Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Swallow Ear Canton’s effective strength as well. Now, there is no one left to protect the two main cities of India."

Lin Yixin’s eyes widened. "Oh? How many people do you have left? Do you have enough to attack Cyan Earth City? I heard that the Russian players of Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are already attacking Elephant City. Assuming that you still have enough troops, you should attack Cyan Earth City and wipe out the Indian server completely!"

However, I shook my head and said, "No, I’m not planning to attack Cyan Earth City even if we assume that it’s completely empty."

"But why?" Lin Yixin looked puzzled.

I cupped her cheeks and gave her a kiss. "It’s simple. Even if Tear Stain and Vienna’s Sorrow lose the battle at Sky Ridge Fortress, they can still muster an army of millions. If we throw everyone we have at Cyan Earth City, I’m certain they’ll respond by invading Sky City. We’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place then. That is why my plan is to attack Burning City!"

"The Korean main city? Are you sure?" Lin Yixin giggled.

"Of course! The only one who’ll stand up for Tear Stain, Candlelight Shadow, is dead, so there is nothing to worry about. We’ll march into Burning City and take out their regent."

"In that case, I… don’t think I can do anything else to help, to be honest. Less than one thousand players of my guild are still alive, not to mention that most of them are production-class players. But that doesn’t matter since we’ve fulfilled our mission…"

I nodded and caressed her face gently. "Yes, you have. Now log out and leave the rest to me. If I can’t log out because I’m too busy, please accompany Xinran on my behalf!"

Lin Yixin pursed her lips together. "I will. I will pay close attention to the Nation War even after I’ve logged out of the game. If necessary, I’ll jump back into the game after I’ve had enough rest. We’re almost out of divine players after all."

"Yes, yes. Now log out and catch a rest already!"

"Okay!"

……

Lin Yixin stood up and set up a tent. Then, she logged out in the middle of the rubble. After her tent had vanished, I rose to my feet and pulled out the scepter that was stuck to Breeze and Rain’s chest. I was expecting this, but I still couldn’t help but tremble when I identified it as the Scepter of Divine Flame, one of the Twelve Divine Armaments!

I used my detective skills to quickly figure out what had transpired. Little Piglet had taken out Lui Lok and got him to drop the Scepter of Divine Flame, but he was taken out by God of War before he could put it into his bag. Then, Lin Yixin launched her surprise attack and somehow stabbed Breeze and Rain to death with the scepter[2]. It was hardly the best way to go, especially for a top-tier fighter like Breeze and Rain, but then again, it was Lin Yixin who was on the other end. With her Attack, there were few people she couldn’t kill, even with a scepter.

Since Lin Yixin had logged out of the game, I decided that I would keep this scepter for her until she recovered. In the meantime, I was sure that Lian Xin could find some use out of it. It wasn’t like Beauty Lin to forget something as precious as a Divine Armament of the Twelve though[3]. She was just that exhausted. I would have to treat her real good when I logged out of the game later. Perhaps I could even convince her to trade it to Lian Xin permanently. I’m sure we could gather enough Lower Divine Armaments and Middle Divine Armaments to make up for it.

……

After that, I rose to my feet and looked at a seemingly empty spot near the broken walls. I asked, "Seen enough yet?"

A surprised yelp immediately broke out from the spot!

Swhoosh!

The Xuanyuan Sword exited and entered its sheath in one smooth motion. The next moment, two Japanese assassins appeared out of thin air and collapsed to their knees, dead. Judging from the disbelief in their eyes, they clearly had no idea that I was aware of their presence. Hmph. They thought they could steal the Scepter of Divine Flame from right under my nose? Well, they thought wrong…

I jumped to my feet and took to the sky. Then, I began flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress. On a related note, it was absolute chaos in the guild channel right now—

Li Chengfeng: "Holy fuck! What the fuck happened at Swallow Ear Canton? We’ve never lost this many CGL Hall of Famers in a row before! Seriously, that’s 19 active CGL Hall of Famers killed in one single battle! What the hell is this Nation War even?"

Chaos Moon: "Yeah! Even Candlelight Shadow and Luo River God of the Capital are dead… Just how strong is Beauty Lin now? I can’t even imagine the skill it took to kill Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud alone…"

Li Chengfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, "Fuck… my skill still isn’t at her or Lu Chen’s level!"

Gui Guzi: "Why are you stating the obvious?"

Li Chengfeng: "..."

He Yi said slowly, "Although our losses are severe, the battle result is better than expected… You can check the latest updates yourselves, but all 59 JGL Hall of Famers and 47 Temple Guardians are dead. Although we lost Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo and Farewell Song, we are absolutely the winners of this trade…"

It was at this moment Beiming Xue spoke with a voice full of worry, "Big bro… Are you there, big bro? What is going on at Swallow Ear Canton?"

I cleared my throat before replying, "I’m fine, Beiming. Swallow Ear Canton has been flattened and abandoned. When the Japanese log back into the game, they’ll be unaffiliated and without any main city to call to their name."

He Yi asked, "How is Yiyi, Lu Chen?"

I replied, "Yiyi is doing fine. She’s just too exhausted, so I told her to log out of the game and rest. By the way, for all those who don't know yet, Breeze Break is Lin Fan, and he took out quite a few powerful enemies for Yiyi. Unfortunately, he has died as well. Also, Warsky’s Immortal Blade has been reclaimed by Yiyi, and Lui Lok’s Scepter of Divine Flame is in my hands right now. Yiyi forgot about it, so I’m holding it for her temporarily…"

Lian Xin immediately interrupted with an excited voice, "Oh, really? Can I borrow it for a bit? I need it to show off in this Nation War…"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you even check your own Nation War contribution points, girl? Oh right, I’m flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress right now, but how are you guys doing?"

Li Chengfeng answered, "Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne Breaker are goners. God Breaker’s 600k troops are almost all gone, Hero Alliance’s troops have dwindled to just 300k or so, and Throne of the Wild’s troops have dwindled to just 100k. However, Tear Stain and her remaining troops managed to break out of our encirclement, and it looks like they’re returning to Burning City."[4]

I asked, "What about Hero Alliance? We can’t allow them to slip back into the shadows!"

Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Vienna’s Sorrow managed to kill many of our experts, but Lian Xin and Beiming were able to repel him together. Hero Alliance’s 300k troops have withdrawn into Soaring Flame Desert, and I think they’re either returning to Hero City or joining the assault on Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I doubt he’ll choose the second option though. Fortress of the Iron Halberd is guarded by Dominating Heaven Blade and Beauty Stranger, and he doesn’t nearly have enough troops to change anything."

He Yi asked, "What do we do now, Lu Chen?"

I replied without hesitation, "All units, return to Dark Moon City to rest and reorganize in the next 30 minutes—that is the amount of time I need to fly to Burning City. Repair your equipment and restock your potions, cards, bread and everything else. Then, I’ll teleport you all over and hopefully catch Tear Stain before she can return to Burning City! Let’s give that woman the fright of her life!"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed loudly. "Hell yeah! That sounds fun!"

……

I immediately changed directions and flew toward Burning City after I had made up my mind. It wasn’t long before a bunch of red dots suddenly entered my map screen. They were none other than Tear Stain and her 100k defeated troops!

Of course, I didn’t underestimate them and circled around them even though they had been defeated in battle. They were still the elites of the Throne of the Wild after all. Tear Stain might have ordered her players to teleport back to her main city, but she herself had chosen to ride back instead, probably to vent her frustrations on the unfortunate Chinese players along her way. This woman was just too competitive for her own good.

1. T/N: didn’t you often do this to yourself? And weren't the earlier grinds something like this? ☜

2. E/N: That I have NO CLUE how you deduced. Impaling a guy with a freaking scepter? I’m betting my money on Lin Fan pulling off THAT stunt. Hell, guy has some knight magical hybrid, he could probably equip it and buff like one or two skills of his with it. Universe Break works with thrusts after all. ☜

3. E/N: Yeah, and there was that guy who was much more brutal than Lin Yixin and probably didn’t even care about this scepter because he’s not been playing Heavenblessed that much… ☜

4. T/N: the biggest failure of this war is without a doubt the non-China nations not making a death ball of divine experts and forcing China to always meet them at a numbers disadvantage. It’s so stupid. Also, Red Maple may be an absolute dick, but respect to him for nearly pulling off the impossible. Literally everyone else except Flowing Cloud deserves to eat ass ☜

Lin Yixin smiled at me as she lay limply against my chest. Her long eyelashes looked like they had caught a bit of dust. She tried to push herself to a standing position, but I held her still and said, "Stop. You’ve been logged in for 24 hours straight, haven’t you[1]?"

"Mn. Swallow Ear Canton was a tough bone to break, so…" she replied with a nod.

My heart ached like a bitch as I examined the fatigue trailing her expression. I looked around to take my mind off things for a bit. Breeze and Rain was nailed to the wall by a fiery scepter, and Flowing Cloud was lying face down on a heap of sand with a blood-drenched cape. She had been stabbed in the heart, and her killer was none other than the girl in my arms.

There were two other corpses slightly farther away from here. The first one I checked out was Little Piglet. He had a Level 220 sword in his hand, and he was sitting against a wall. His throat had been cut, but he clearly died with a smile on his face. Not far away from him was India’s number one mage, Lui Lok. He had a spear lodged in his chest, and if I remembered correctly, Little Piglet was the one who killed him. Finally, the third corpse was a handsome man lying face up in a pool of blood. His fists were clenched tightly even in death. He was none other than the man who killed the number one expert of India, God of War, the former Heavenly King of Eternal Moon, Lin Fan. He was Level 245 and his class was "Saint Peak Magic Knight”.

……

Seemingly noticing my puzzlement, Lin Yixin said softly, "I and a dozen or so Snowy Cathaya players were the only ones left after Candlelight Shadow, Warsky, Luo River God of the Capital and the others died. Meanwhile, the enemy still had Flowing Cloud, Breeze and Rain, God of War and Lui Lok. As you might have noticed, we weren’t supposed to have won this battle. Thankfully, Breeze Break appeared at the last moment and pulled off one of the best helix maneuvers I’ve ever seen. Not only did he dodge God of War’s attacks four times in a row, he single-handedly deleted 40% of God of War’s HP with insane attack speed. Unfortunately, he was ultimately killed by Flowing Cloud’s Ancient Divine Skill… Who is that guy? He’s as good as Candlelight Shadow and me…"

I replied quietly, "Lin Fan."

"I see. The first Heavenly King…"

"Mn."

"What about the other guy, Piglike Opponent? He’s Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, but I’ve never noticed him until now. His skills are pretty good, and his timely intervention was the only reason I managed to escape Breeze and Rain’s combo."

"He’s Little Piglet…" I smiled at her. "It’s a secret, okay?"

Lin Yixin was a smart girl. She nodded with a look of understanding. "Ah, I see. I’ll definitely keep it a secret. Oh right, we’ve already killed Swallow Ear Canton’s regent and chosen to abandon the city. The war here is already over."

I exhaled. "Mn. Well done, Yiyi. Of course, that goes to everyone else who died—Warsky, Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo, Farewell Song and more—as well… Not only did you manage to take out Swallow Ear Canton, you’ve neutralized all of Cyan Earth City, Elephant City and Swallow Ear Canton’s effective strength as well. Now, there is no one left to protect the two main cities of India."

Lin Yixin’s eyes widened. "Oh? How many people do you have left? Do you have enough to attack Cyan Earth City? I heard that the Russian players of Frostsword City and Iron Horse City are already attacking Elephant City. Assuming that you still have enough troops, you should attack Cyan Earth City and wipe out the Indian server completely!"

However, I shook my head and said, "No, I’m not planning to attack Cyan Earth City even if we assume that it’s completely empty."

"But why?" Lin Yixin looked puzzled.

I cupped her cheeks and gave her a kiss. "It’s simple. Even if Tear Stain and Vienna’s Sorrow lose the battle at Sky Ridge Fortress, they can still muster an army of millions. If we throw everyone we have at Cyan Earth City, I’m certain they’ll respond by invading Sky City. We’ll be stuck between a rock and a hard place then. That is why my plan is to attack Burning City!"

"The Korean main city? Are you sure?" Lin Yixin giggled.

"Of course! The only one who’ll stand up for Tear Stain, Candlelight Shadow, is dead, so there is nothing to worry about. We’ll march into Burning City and take out their regent."

"In that case, I… don’t think I can do anything else to help, to be honest. Less than one thousand players of my guild are still alive, not to mention that most of them are production-class players. But that doesn’t matter since we’ve fulfilled our mission…"

I nodded and caressed her face gently. "Yes, you have. Now log out and leave the rest to me. If I can’t log out because I’m too busy, please accompany Xinran on my behalf!"

Lin Yixin pursed her lips together. "I will. I will pay close attention to the Nation War even after I’ve logged out of the game. If necessary, I’ll jump back into the game after I’ve had enough rest. We’re almost out of divine players after all."

"Yes, yes. Now log out and catch a rest already!"

"Okay!"

……

Lin Yixin stood up and set up a tent. Then, she logged out in the middle of the rubble. After her tent had vanished, I rose to my feet and pulled out the scepter that was stuck to Breeze and Rain’s chest. I was expecting this, but I still couldn’t help but tremble when I identified it as the Scepter of Divine Flame, one of the Twelve Divine Armaments!

I used my detective skills to quickly figure out what had transpired. Little Piglet had taken out Lui Lok and got him to drop the Scepter of Divine Flame, but he was taken out by God of War before he could put it into his bag. Then, Lin Yixin launched her surprise attack and somehow stabbed Breeze and Rain to death with the scepter[2]. It was hardly the best way to go, especially for a top-tier fighter like Breeze and Rain, but then again, it was Lin Yixin who was on the other end. With her Attack, there were few people she couldn’t kill, even with a scepter.

Since Lin Yixin had logged out of the game, I decided that I would keep this scepter for her until she recovered. In the meantime, I was sure that Lian Xin could find some use out of it. It wasn’t like Beauty Lin to forget something as precious as a Divine Armament of the Twelve though[3]. She was just that exhausted. I would have to treat her real good when I logged out of the game later. Perhaps I could even convince her to trade it to Lian Xin permanently. I’m sure we could gather enough Lower Divine Armaments and Middle Divine Armaments to make up for it.

……

After that, I rose to my feet and looked at a seemingly empty spot near the broken walls. I asked, "Seen enough yet?"

A surprised yelp immediately broke out from the spot!

Swhoosh!

The Xuanyuan Sword exited and entered its sheath in one smooth motion. The next moment, two Japanese assassins appeared out of thin air and collapsed to their knees, dead. Judging from the disbelief in their eyes, they clearly had no idea that I was aware of their presence. Hmph. They thought they could steal the Scepter of Divine Flame from right under my nose? Well, they thought wrong…

I jumped to my feet and took to the sky. Then, I began flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress. On a related note, it was absolute chaos in the guild channel right now—

Li Chengfeng: "Holy fuck! What the fuck happened at Swallow Ear Canton? We’ve never lost this many CGL Hall of Famers in a row before! Seriously, that’s 19 active CGL Hall of Famers killed in one single battle! What the hell is this Nation War even?"

Chaos Moon: "Yeah! Even Candlelight Shadow and Luo River God of the Capital are dead… Just how strong is Beauty Lin now? I can’t even imagine the skill it took to kill Breeze and Rain and Flowing Cloud alone…"

Li Chengfeng fell silent for a moment before saying, "Fuck… my skill still isn’t at her or Lu Chen’s level!"

Gui Guzi: "Why are you stating the obvious?"

Li Chengfeng: "..."

He Yi said slowly, "Although our losses are severe, the battle result is better than expected… You can check the latest updates yourselves, but all 59 JGL Hall of Famers and 47 Temple Guardians are dead. Although we lost Candlelight Shadow, Wang Luo and Farewell Song, we are absolutely the winners of this trade…"

It was at this moment Beiming Xue spoke with a voice full of worry, "Big bro… Are you there, big bro? What is going on at Swallow Ear Canton?"

I cleared my throat before replying, "I’m fine, Beiming. Swallow Ear Canton has been flattened and abandoned. When the Japanese log back into the game, they’ll be unaffiliated and without any main city to call to their name."

He Yi asked, "How is Yiyi, Lu Chen?"

I replied, "Yiyi is doing fine. She’s just too exhausted, so I told her to log out of the game and rest. By the way, for all those who don't know yet, Breeze Break is Lin Fan, and he took out quite a few powerful enemies for Yiyi. Unfortunately, he has died as well. Also, Warsky’s Immortal Blade has been reclaimed by Yiyi, and Lui Lok’s Scepter of Divine Flame is in my hands right now. Yiyi forgot about it, so I’m holding it for her temporarily…"

Lian Xin immediately interrupted with an excited voice, "Oh, really? Can I borrow it for a bit? I need it to show off in this Nation War…"

I rolled my eyes. "Did you even check your own Nation War contribution points, girl? Oh right, I’m flying back to Sky Ridge Fortress right now, but how are you guys doing?"

Li Chengfeng answered, "Hero Alliance, God Breaker and Throne Breaker are goners. God Breaker’s 600k troops are almost all gone, Hero Alliance’s troops have dwindled to just 300k or so, and Throne of the Wild’s troops have dwindled to just 100k. However, Tear Stain and her remaining troops managed to break out of our encirclement, and it looks like they’re returning to Burning City."[4]

I asked, "What about Hero Alliance? We can’t allow them to slip back into the shadows!"

Li Chengfeng chuckled. "Vienna’s Sorrow managed to kill many of our experts, but Lian Xin and Beiming were able to repel him together. Hero Alliance’s 300k troops have withdrawn into Soaring Flame Desert, and I think they’re either returning to Hero City or joining the assault on Fortress of the Iron Halberd. I doubt he’ll choose the second option though. Fortress of the Iron Halberd is guarded by Dominating Heaven Blade and Beauty Stranger, and he doesn’t nearly have enough troops to change anything."

He Yi asked, "What do we do now, Lu Chen?"

I replied without hesitation, "All units, return to Dark Moon City to rest and reorganize in the next 30 minutes—that is the amount of time I need to fly to Burning City. Repair your equipment and restock your potions, cards, bread and everything else. Then, I’ll teleport you all over and hopefully catch Tear Stain before she can return to Burning City! Let’s give that woman the fright of her life!"

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun laughed loudly. "Hell yeah! That sounds fun!"

……

I immediately changed directions and flew toward Burning City after I had made up my mind. It wasn’t long before a bunch of red dots suddenly entered my map screen. They were none other than Tear Stain and her 100k defeated troops!

Of course, I didn’t underestimate them and circled around them even though they had been defeated in battle. They were still the elites of the Throne of the Wild after all. Tear Stain might have ordered her players to teleport back to her main city, but she herself had chosen to ride back instead, probably to vent her frustrations on the unfortunate Chinese players along her way. This woman was just too competitive for her own good.

1. T/N: didn’t you often do this to yourself? And weren't the earlier grinds something like this? ☜

2. E/N: That I have NO CLUE how you deduced. Impaling a guy with a freaking scepter? I’m betting my money on Lin Fan pulling off THAT stunt. Hell, guy has some knight magical hybrid, he could probably equip it and buff like one or two skills of his with it. Universe Break works with thrusts after all. ☜

3. E/N: Yeah, and there was that guy who was much more brutal than Lin Yixin and probably didn’t even care about this scepter because he’s not been playing Heavenblessed that much… ☜

4. T/N: the biggest failure of this war is without a doubt the non-China nations not making a death ball of divine experts and forcing China to always meet them at a numbers disadvantage. It’s so stupid. Also, Red Maple may be an absolute dick, but respect to him for nearly pulling off the impossible. Literally everyone else except Flowing Cloud deserves to eat ass ☜