I threw the Purple Ying Sword at the pursuers. The cyclone of energy circled behind Du Thirteen, High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun perfectly, protecting their backs and knocking back the dozen or so Wildfire Riders who were trying to give chase. Some also died to critical hits or triggered quintuple-damage passive. My Agility wasn’t too bad, and overall I had about a 20+% critical hit rate, or a one in five chance to trigger a critical hit. It certainly wasn’t an insignificant amount of critical chance.

"Ahhhh…"

All the Wildfire Riders who died to my attack wouldn’t be able to set foot in Purple Grape City domain until the Nation War was over. Speaking of which, so many players were gathered at White Rose Fortress—there were at least tens of millions of them—that the system had named this Nation War the "War of Purple Grape City”.The reason it wasn’t called the "War of Sky City" was because White Rose Fortress was the only Sky City location that was destroyed, and Floating Ice City was categorized as a neutral territory after it was abandoned.

Red Maple was within range of my Coiling Dragon Revolution as well, but he responded by jumping off his mount and bending his body until he resembled a drawn bow. The moment the sword drew close, he lashed out like lightning and actually managed to parry the skill successfully. In that moment, his APM had jumped over 600, and he was able to hit the Purple Ying Sword on the hilt. It was an astounding feat.

Chiang!

As a result, my Purple Ying Sword only traveled half the distance before it was canceled and sent flying back into my hands. However, Red Maple himself was sent rolling across the ground. I was mounted when I unleashed Coiling Dragon Revolution and Red Maple wasn’t, so it made sense that my Strength would far surpass his.

My mount let out a long neigh as I raced down the stairs of the abandoned palace and caught the returning Purple Ying Sword. Then, I executed War Crush and killed 5 Wildfire Riders who had tried to run past me. There was no way they could survive the skill without Guarding.

"Thirteen, Fighting Spirits, You and Yun, return to the city now while I keep them busy!" I ordered.

Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun responded by activating Flying General and hastening everyone’s movement speed to ungodly levels. After they entered the palace hall, they took out their return scrolls and crushed it in their hands. It would only take a few seconds for the teleport spell to complete and return them all to Sky City safe and sound.

……

Furious, Red Maple raised his sword and ordered, "Archers, interrupt their channeling with Far Shot! Don’t let the destroyers of Ice River Canton slip out of our grasp! We’ve already lost enough face as it is!"

The archers behind the formation immediately raised their bows.

I wasn’t going to let them succeed, so I spurred my mount forward and killed two low-health magic knights with a basic attack on the way. An ashen-faced archer shouted, "He’s trying to kill us! Stop him!"

Fifty or so Wildfire Riders immediately acted to flank me, channeling Barrier Breaks even before they got within range. It was obvious that they planned to end my life with the skill. Not only that, the closest magic knights to me threw Trapping Nets at me as well.

Pa pa pa…

I remained perfectly calm despite the dire situation. In my head, I was no longer seeing the scene the game was showing me, but some sort of bird-eye’s view that showed the enemy’s location and the Trapping Nets’ casting time, trajectory and final landing spot. I reacted accordingly and dodged all the Trapping Nets with a series of dashes and zigzagging movements. I even had the leisure to channel Burning Blade Slash, make a sudden turn toward the enemy that cut right beneath their skills before unleashing its devastating, fiery energy at them.

I could see the shock in the eyes of the Wildfire Riders in front of me. They couldn’t believe that I would be so bold as to execute a maneuver right beneath their noses, especially when a single misstep could mean certain death. That was why Burning Blade Slash landed perfectly and elicited a chorus of death screams instantly. My equipment was powerful, I had Martial God turned on, and my stats were further enhanced by my cards. Moreover, the Wildfire Riders hadn’t expected me to countercharge them so quickly and so weren’t Guarding at all. As a result, everyone who was even touched by my skill was dead. Considering my current Attack, it would be strange if they survived.

Another group of souls floated into the air and flew away. They wouldn’t be able to enter Purple Grape City’s domain until the Nation War was over. In fact, because Japan only had one main city, they were ejected from the game by force and couldn’t even log back into the game.

Whoosh!

A blast of fire hit me from the sides, and I wasn’t in a position to dodge or defend myself against the attack. As a result, I lost 59023 HP. Realizing the danger I was in, I swung my weapon in a spiral pattern before I even turned around to face my attacker.

Chiang chiang!

Two colliding sparks appeared in midair. Somehow, I was able to parry the two follow-up slashes and protect myself from further damage. Astonishment flashed across Red Maple’s features. He couldn’t believe that I was able to parry two out of three hits of his Fire God Flurry without looking.

Swhoosh!

Astonished he might be, he didn’t let it stop him from following up with Barrier Break. The attack was simple, but his chosen angle was sound, and the skill gave its target less than 0.15 seconds to react. Most of the time, it was the straightforward, reliable skills that won the day, not the fancy ones. No wonder he was always able to catch High Fighting Spirits and Eighteen Steeds of You and Yun off-guard again and again.

I bent down a little before bringing my sword upward, knocking Red Maple’s Barrier Break into the air before it could hit me. It was a speed versus speed battle, and I was all for it. I brought my sword back down in a mighty swing that caused him to stumble to the back. Before he could react, I opened my palm and channeled God Binding Art!

"Protect me!"

Red Maple shouted as he aimed his palm at me as well and fired his Divine General Skill, Maple Kill and Wind Blade Cyclone. Red Maple was too fast, and I still had to weave in and out a rain of Trapping Nets. I had no choice but to let the skills tear through my body.

98773!

72622!

My HP dipped below 30%, but God Binding Art also landed and trapped Red Maple in place. He wouldn’t be able to move for a while now.

"Protect the guild leader now!"

A group of God’s Domain players immediately surrounded Red Maple from all sides. My Coiling Dragon Revolution, Dragon Slaying Slash and Ancient Seal most likely wouldn’t be enough to kill the heaven’s warrior, not to mention he was buffed by high-level bards and being healed by many priests. It would be ridiculously difficult to kill him even if he was immobile.

I decided to move there and turned my mount to run parallel to the enemy’s line. The Dragon God Shield vanished for a moment—revealing the sleeping Ancient Divine Dragon coiled around my left arm—and I fired 10 Ancient Seals in a row into the enemy archers and mages. While they were busy screaming to their deaths, I looked behind me one last time and was satisfied to see that everyone had teleported back to the city safely. My mission was done.

"Red Maple!"

That didn’t mean I couldn’t try to score one last optional objective before I left though. If I could slay the number one player of the Japan server right here, it would be a huge morale blow to Purple Grape City. Without their spiritual leader, there was little chance the city would be able to withstand our iron hooves. I charged straight toward Red Maple.

I raised my arm, and light flashed from my ring for an instant. An apparition immediately appeared next to me. The Phantom Wolf King, the apparition and myself charged toward Red Maple from three different directions. I was controlling all three units including myself because the next couple of moves would require some measure of control. My apparition and I used Coiling Dragon Revolution + Dragon Slaying Slash, except I also used Ancient Seal in the end. The Phantom Wolf King also fired Purgatory Storm at Red Maple!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

A series of explosions took place as six skills hit the area Red Maple was standing in. When the dust cleared, all the Wildfire Riders trying to protect him were dead!

Unfortunately, Red Maple was still alive with less than 10% HP left. He was obviously Guarding, and he was being healed constantly by the priests at the back. A new group of God’s Domain players including the JGL Hall of Famers Red Hot Vortex and Cyan Frost were rushing to their leader’s aid as well. Thanks to Dark Pupils, I also spotted the super assassin Purple Thunder stealthing his way to me from 25 yards away as well. It wouldn’t be fun to fight all of them at the same time!

Pa!

A Trapping Net abruptly hit me and immobilized me for a short time. Red Maple immediately shouted, "Kill him now!"

Too bad for him, I still had an invincibility skill called Divine Dragon Protection I could use. A golden shield manifested from the Dragon God Shield and surrounded me, making me invulnerable for 25 seconds.

I looked back and forth between Red Maple and the ruined Ice River Canton. I said with a sneer, "Remember your arrogance when you massacred Floating Ice City? This is just the beginning. We’re coming for Purple Grape City next, so be a good boy and wait for us there. Don’t worry, I promise you that our vengeance will stop only when one of us is dead!"

"You!"

Red Maple’s eyes were bloodshot, and his teeth looked like they would break under pressure. But instead of giving in to his anger, he chose to withdraw further into the back and put as many bodies between myself and him, just in case I felt tempted to kill him while I was still invincible.

It didn’t look like I had much of a chance to succeed, so I crushed a return scroll and shot them one last smile at the stunned Purple Grape City players. "Some of you probably think that China is in decline right now. Let this be the proof that we can take Purple Grape City anytime we want to. You think you can lay a hand on us? Just wait, retribution will fall upon all of you!"

Swhoosh!

I dissolved into white light and vanished from Ice River Canton right after I said that. The next moment, I was back at the square of Sky City.

……

Beep!

Hot and Sour Noodles sent me a message: "Congratulations Lu Chen, hahaha! I saw the system announcement. To think that you would be able to raid Ice River Canton! I have to say that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls has pleasantly surprised me yet again! When this war is over, I’ll definitely ask the CGL committee to reward you. Once again, well fucking done, hahaha!"

Warsky also sent me a message: "Haha, well done!"

……

After I had replied to all the congratulatory messages, I looked around and saw my Famous Generals and Dragonlight Cavalry standing in position at the square of Sky City and waiting to set off to their next destination already.

It was at this moment we received yet another system announcement—

Ding~!

System Announcement: Player "From Water" (Sky City) has accumulated enough Kill Points to learn the Great Earth Transformation and become the eleventh Divine General of China! They have gained 200/200 Divine Energy Points, Luck +1, Tactics +1, and an exclusive Divine General Skill, "Godslaying Blade"!

Godslaying Blade: Summons a Godslaying Blade into one’s weapon. Splash effect is increased by 50%, Attack is increased by 150%, and attack range is increased by 20 yards. Skill exclusive to From Water.