"Victory and defeat are commonplace, not to mention that our opponent is Snowy Cathaya. We've done very well already, so don't worry, everyone." He Yi comforted Gui Guzi and the others.
Li Chengfeng hugged his sword and leaned against the wall behind him with a smile. "Forget it. It's not like we lost to Snowy Cathaya. It's our own fault. Let's work hard and meet up with the home team in the finals of the WEL next year. Let's walk our own path and force Snowy Cathaya and Warsky Alliance into a corner …"
Not far away, Warsky said coldly, "We've already reached the end of the WEL. Are you making fun of us?"
Li Chengfeng curled his lips and laughed. "Bitter Alliance …"
Warsky's face turned the color of a pig's liver.
… …
The next match was between Pop People Club and Candle Dragon. This was a battle between a dark horse and a king of guilds. Pop People Club had overcome many obstacles to reach this stage. Their team consisted of two warriors and an archer, and they had won almost every single one of their matches. The two warriors were especially skilled at positioning and maneuvering, and their skill was close to Chaos Moon's level. It was a rare sight.
At the edge of the battlefield, Candle Dragon said with a smile, "Brothers and sisters of Pop People's Cafe, it is fate that we met here. Whether we win or lose, we are all friends, so let's not ruin our friendship over a single match. On behalf of Candle Dragon, I would like to express my respect for your ability to make it to the quarter-finals. We will give our all in the next five matches to show our respect for your strength!"
The guild leader of Pop People's Cafe, the warrior called "Lonemoon Shadow", replied with a smile, "Thank you for your praise, Martial God. We will give our all in this match as well!"
Candlelight Shadow smiled brightly. "In that case, let's make friends through martial arts!"
"Alright!"
God's Dance also chatted happily with the Archer from Pop Culture for a bit. It looked like they were having a good time.
… …
"It looks like Candlelight Shadow is trying to recruit Pop People's Cafe to his side. Even if he can't, he'll at least try to make them his ally." Lin Yixin said as she stared into the distance.
He Yi nodded her head before frowning slightly. "But the biggest threat to us is that Pop People House is actually a guild of Sky City. Hmph, Candlelight Shadow deserves to be punished. He's trying to expand Candle Dragon's influence in Sky City and slowly chip away at our strength."
I said, "Candlelight Shadow's strategy isn't bad at all. He's supporting Pop People Hall in Sky City to fight against our alliance. He'll provide the manpower and money to make Pop People Hall fight us to the death, and Candle Dragon will be able to reap the benefits without doing anything."
Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "That's easy. We'll also support the Ancient Sword Alliance in Wind City and use it to fight against Candle Dragon. Hmph, I refuse to believe that Candle Dragon can do whatever they want in Wind City."
Lin Yixin smiled. "You're right, Momo. We already have a candidate in mind. Haven't Indigo Collar's Peach Garden been fighting against Candle Dragon all this time?
We can form an alliance with Peach Garden and infiltrate Wind City step by step. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends, and Baidicheng are all big guilds, and we can't just be content with one side. Otherwise, we'll be eaten up by others. There are too many people eyeing our territory, and we can't afford to lose for the sake of money! "
Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "That's right! The guild leaders of Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Snowy Cathaya are both gorgeous, and it's very likely that they'll be snatched away by someone else. Lu Chen, you have to do everything you can to fight Candle Dragon!"
Li Chengfeng grinned from the side. "Candlelight Shadow is very anxious right now, and even Candle Dragon is trying to recruit allies everywhere. We can't afford to slack off. Once the WEL is over, there'll be a series of wars on the Heavenblessed Continent. Everyone's tensed up right now, and war is about to break out at any moment!"
"Yeah, we'll talk about that after the WEL. Everyone else, just watch as normal: Chengfeng!
While we're at the WEL, I'll leave Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Dark Moon City to you, Little Gui, and Chaos Moon. "
"Got it. I won't disappoint you, vice leader!"
… …
While we were chatting, the match between Pop People Pavilion and Candle Dragon was over. Candle Dragon beat Pop People Pavilion with a 4: 1, and Blue Sky Scar lost to Lonemoon Shadow. It wasn't because Blue Sky Scar was weaker than Lonemoon Shadow, but because he did it on purpose. Beating Pop People Pavilion with a 10: 0 score was a huge disgrace, and it would be very detrimental to our future recruitment efforts.
At the same time, I did some research on Pop People Pavilion. The guild was founded four months ago, and it had slowly risen to prominence in the last two months. Right now, its main guild had 50k members, and it had 7 subguilds. All of them were Rank 6 guilds with 30k members, and they had over 200k members in total. They were a pretty strong force, but they usually kept a low profile. They weren't as active as rich guilds like Mad Dragon and Flower Room, and they often organized large-scale clearing of leveling areas, PvP, and vendetta. It was almost as if Sky City couldn't contain them anymore.
But it was precisely because of this that Pop People Pavilion hid their strength that they were the scariest of all. Lonemoon Shadow and the others might not be as strong as Candlelight Shadow and Blue Sky Scar, but they were countless times stronger than Wang Dongliang, Lu Chao, Li Le, and more. In fact, they were even stronger than Dominating Knight God and the others from Gods of Destruction, or they wouldn't have been able to put so much pressure on Candle Dragon.
Not long after the match was over, Pop People Pavilion's guild leader, Lonemoon Shadow's shoulder turned into Candle Dragon's emblem. Both sides had formed an alliance.
After the match was over, Lonemoon Shadow sat lazily on the stage with his greatsword in his arms.
Li Chengfeng walked up to him and asked with a smile, "Brother, you're a guild from Sky City. Why did you travel all the way to form an alliance with Candle Dragon?
Your strategy of making friends from afar and fighting melee isn't necessarily going to work in the game … "
Lonemoon Shadow shot Li Chengfeng a glance before sitting up and saying, "Oh, so it's Legendary Brave. My apologies, my apologies!
Haha, Candlelight Shadow is a humble and courteous man. It's not a bad thing for Pop People Pavilion to have such a powerful ally, is it? "
"Is there no other choice?"
Li Chengfeng asked tentatively. "Take Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls for example. We may not know what it means to be courteous, but we know that we're willing to shed blood for our brothers and sisters. What do you say? Will you consider it?"
An indecipherable look flashed across Lonemoon Shadow's eyes. He chuckled and said, "Let's forget about it. Since Pop People Pavilion has chosen Candle Dragon as an ally, they won't waver like grass on the wall. Also, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls already has powerful allies like Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, and Blazing Hot Lips. Pop People Pavilion doesn't need us, does it?
Sky City's player encampments, Dark Moon City, Silver Fir City, and The Monarch Descends' new encampments have all been taken by you. Pop People Pavilion needs to find a new place to live, and we need to rely on new allies. We can't just sit here and do nothing, can we? "
Lonemoon Shadow let out a teasing laugh. "Don't worry, Li Chengfeng. You should be glad that Pop People Pavilion didn't ally with Warsky Alliance. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya, and The Monarch Descends have taken up too much of Sky City's player resources. If you don't give us a way out, we have no choice but to rise up. Our first choice is Warsky Alliance, and our second choice is Candle Dragon. Since Candlelight Shadow is so humble, we'll choose Candle Dragon as our ally. Pop People Pavilion will definitely be able to make a name for itself in Sky City!"
Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. He knew that this wasn't going to work, so he smiled and said, "Alright, but Candle Dragon is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls' mortal enemy. If we meet on the battlefield, we'll kill them. I hope that we don't meet on the battlefield in the future. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will always want a friend, not an enemy."
Lonemoon Shadow smiled. "Heroes of the world come from our generation. If we do meet on the battlefield, then let's fight to our heart's content and not waste our lives."
I walked over and gave Li Chengfeng a pat on the shoulder. "Lonemoon Shadow is right. Let's fight to our heart's content and live up to our youth. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Pop People Pavilion are destined to fight each other, then the only thing we can do is to make this battle as epic as possible!"
Li Chengfeng smiled and said meaningfully, "Mn, I like it better if it's a little more tragic …"
"Fuck!"
I glared at him and said, "Then let's make it a little more tragic. I'm not against it."
Lonemoon Ying stared blankly at Li Chengfeng and my backs. It was obvious that he had underestimated Li Chengfeng and my personalities. Hmph, we're both battle maniacs. If you want to fight, then we'll fight. Why should we be afraid of a mere celebrity club like yours? What right do we have to stand above the thousands of miles of Sky City?
… …
It was at this moment Fei 'er walked up the stage in her high-heeled boots. She held a microphone and said in a sweet voice, "The quarter-finals have come to the final match. Now, let's look forward to the final match of the quarter-finals. They are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Sword Lord of Jianghu. Everyone else, please don't be surprised!"
It was yet another clash between a super guild and a dark horse. Sword Lord of Jianghu's group was silent and indifferent. Three of their four players had hidden classes, and none of their opponents were particularly strong. The fact that they had made it this far without a hitch meant that they were hiding a lot of tactics and skills. This meant that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls was about to face a very difficult battle.
"Your enemy is very strong. Take care …" Lin Yixin looked at me with a gloating expression.
I grinned at He Yi and said, "We need to get off to a good start. Leave the first match to me. If Sword Lord of Jianghu's morale isn't high, we'll be in danger."
He Yi nodded. "Mn. Lu Chen will fight first, Beiming Xue will fight second, Lian Xin will fight third, and I'll bring up the rear. Lu Chen and Beiming Xue will fight the final match together. The best result we can hope for is a 3: 0 score!"
"Got it!" The girls nodded in unison.
It wasn't long before the match-ups appeared on the big screen — 1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyoji 1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Amber Eyes LV-180 Dark Swordsman 1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VSLang LV-180 Magic Swordsman 1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Ai Jia LV-180 Beast Tamer 2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyoji & Amber Eyes LV-180 Dark Swordsman...