Chapter 101: Blood And Glory
City of Light Chasing, Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
“Brother Zhen, we just used all our points to redeem land on Crimson Moon Mountain, now we don’t have enough points for everyone to redeem a smart watch.” Saiwai Qiangke looked at the pile of A5-grade weapons and A4-grade armor obtained from killing the robbers on the ground, feeling a bit of a headache. “If we want to redeem smart watches, I’m afraid we can only sell these weapons and equipment to the martial arts hall.”
They originally thought that with so many weapons and equipment, they would make a huge profit, but they forgot that new players simply could not afford them. Even at half price for joining Dawn Squad, they still could not buy them. It was equivalent to having weapons and equipment in hand but not earning any points at all.
“Smart watches can let us grasp the situation in the wilderness. We have to buy these.” Fang Zhen thought for a moment, then said through gritted teeth, “Don’t we have a batch of confiscated smart watches? Sell that batch of unusable smart watches to the martial arts hall, and that shielding device we confiscated, we don’t need it either, sell it to the martial arts hall too. For the remaining shortfall, sell some weapons and equipment. Before we head to Crimson Moon Mountain, everyone must have one.”
“Okay, I’ll take care of it right now.” Saiwai Qiangke nodded, hoisted up a metal box filled with smart watches, and ran to the warehouse to redeem them.
While Dawn Squad was busy making preparations for the great battle, a large number of new players inside the martial arts hall were cultivating the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique like their lives depended on it, spewing blood in large mouthfuls on the training ground, their eyes filled with madness. Some players were completely covered in blood, barely breathing, yet their faces were full of joy.
“What is going on with this Obsidian Martial Arts Hall? Cultivating the breathing technique so crazily, have these members all gone insane?” Yaklo on the second floor watched this scene, his three emerald-green beautiful eyes widened.
After Lin Qi openly announced that he would start a war, Yaklo did not approve of Lin Qi’s choice.
As an old, top-twenty wilderness gang, the Great Ape Gang’s strength was not something the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall could touch. The outcome of a frontal clash could only be disastrous losses. By the time they wanted revenge, they might not even have the strength.
Yaklo even suspected that after Lin Qi announced this result, many members of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall would feel panic and fear. After all, the vagrants in the City of Light Chasing should know how powerful the Ape Clan, as a strong race, was in the city.
Yaklo had even seen in other cities that when some wilderness gangs’ senior officials offended the local strong-race wilderness gang, the gang leader directly crippled that senior official and handed him over to the strong-race gang. Not a single member in that wilderness gang felt regret or anger; they only felt relieved.
Now that Lin Qi openly wanted a battle with the Great Ape Gang, it would definitely cause turmoil among all the members of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall.
But to Yaklo’s surprise, not only were these members of the Obsidian Martial Arts Hall unafraid, they were extremely excited. Even more terrifying, many members whose strength had not yet reached apprentice-level were throwing their lives at breaking through, just to keep up with Hall Master Lin Qi’s pace. Such loyalty was beyond Yaklo’s understanding. He could not figure out what kind of bewitching potion Lin Qi had fed these members.
Meanwhile, in the hall master’s lounge, Lin Qi finished counting all the energy ore in the warehouse. In one go, he used all the energy ore transported by Fang Zhen and the others to transform resting places, directly adding ten more resting places to the martial arts hall.
“Next, we just need to wait three more days, and we can have one hundred more newcomers.” Looking at the system’s transformation countdown, Lin Qi made up his mind that Crimson Moon Mountain must hold for at least three days.
These one hundred newcomers might not become combat power by then, but they could guard the martial arts hall, allowing the existing newcomers, plus the fifty newcomers arriving in one day, to all go to Crimson Moon Mountain for support.
By then, Crimson Moon Mountain could have 160 people. Even if they could not hold Crimson Moon Mountain, they could continue to attack Crimson Moon Mountain afterward to reduce the Great Ape Gang’s existing combat power, leaving the Great Ape Gang too exhausted in the wilderness to do anything else, and dragging them into an endless war of attrition.
With players who could resurrect infinitely, he truly did not believe the Great Ape Gang could outlast him.
Then Lin Qi took the ten B2-grade standard weapons stored in the martial arts hall, along with a custom-made B2-grade long sword he had specially commissioned from Luo Qi, and set off overnight directly for Crimson Moon Mountain.
The announcement of the great battle, it had to be said, greatly helped players break through. In less than half an hour, more than ten players broke through to become apprentices, bringing the number of new apprentices to twenty-eight. They rode in two medium transport vehicles, heading straight for Crimson Moon Mountain.
After spending nearly three hours on the road, Lin Qi also arrived at Crimson Moon Mountain.
At this time, although it was already midnight, Crimson Moon Mountain was brightly lit. A large number of players were reinforcing the defenses at the mountain gate. The wooden stakes were gone, replaced by an iron wall built from shipping containers. Even a limit apprentice would need some time to break through.
At the gate, there were also two wooden watchtowers, each with archers standing on top, carrying A5-grade composite longbows. The level of readiness was like a military outpost. It was obvious that the players on Crimson Moon Mountain had also received the news that the war was starting.
“It’s a pity that Crimson Moon Mountain’s materials are limited. If A6-grade alloy could be used freely, I could build an iron fortress. Then forget one thousand people, even ten thousand apprentices would not be able to take it.” Twilight of the Gods looked at the two layers of barbed wire set up outside Crimson Moon Mountain with regret.
“A6-grade alloy used freely, how dare you even think that?” Yi Ye Fu Yun glanced at Twilight of the Gods. “Do you know how much that stuff costs? With that much A6-grade alloy, you could arm ten thousand people.”
“I was just saying.” Twilight of the Gods curled his lips, looking with envy at Fang Zhen and the others who had come with Lin Qi. “I really don’t know what kind of luck Old Zhen has. One ore transport trip and he runs into robbers. He made a killing this time. These weapons and equipment must be worth several million points.”
“If I had known, I would have taken that transport job. Now Old Zhen and the others made a fortune. I have to rob him for at least one A6-grade weapon later.” Yi Ye Fu Yun also nodded, looking like he had suffered a huge loss.
While Twilight of the Gods and Yi Ye Fu Yun were chatting, Fang Zhen and the others who had come up the mountain with Lin Qi were fully armed, holding A6-grade weapons, wearing at least A5-grade armor. The dozen-plus of them walking together completely filled the players on Crimson Moon Mountain with envy.
But before everyone could be envious for long, Lin Qi gathered all the players on Crimson Moon Mountain.
“Our war with the Great Ape Gang is about to begin. To defend our Crimson Moon Mountain, to defend the honor of our Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, for this great battle, for every disciple who accepts the task, the martial arts hall will take only half of the loot from war kills.”
“Killing an advanced or higher apprentice will reward 5,000 points and 500 contribution. Killing a quasi-martial artist will reward 30,000 points and 1,000 contribution. Slaying the Great Ape Gang’s gang leader Watu will reward 200,000 points and 5,000 contribution!”
As Lin Qi’s words fell, the whole place erupted. Those players who had envied Fang Zhen no longer felt any envy; their gazes toward Lin Qi were full of fervor.
“Hall master mighty!”
“Master of the Pavilion is finally willing to be a decent person!”
“Half of the loot? Could Master of the Pavilion’s system be bugged to be this generous?”
For this war caused by the hidden plot, everyone’s expectation was that if they could scrape together some points and contribution, that would already be great. Thousand-person wars were not common even in many virtual games; more often, those epic virtual titles had battles of tens of thousands of players, and those battles usually suffered terrible frame drops, badly affecting the experience.
But High Martial Arts Descend was different. Even with thousands of people together, there were no frame drops. You could experience a war in the most realistic way. That kind of experience was priceless.
Now that Lin Qi was willing to hand over half of the loot, it was something they would not have dared to dream of.
For a while, everyone rushed to sign up, afraid the quota would fill up.
“Silence! Silence!” Lin Qi looked at those who had signed up, took a deep breath, and shouted again, “This war is very unfavorable to us. The Great Ape Gang, as an old wilderness gang, has more than two thousand people and is equipped with A6-grade battle armor. Our chances in a frontal battle are not great. I plan to organize a raid team to launch a night raid on the Great Ape Gang’s wilderness headquarters right now. Advanced apprentices and above can come register with me.”
“I’ll say this upfront as hall master: this could very well be a one-way task. All there is will be blood and honor!”
“There’s such a good thing?” Yi Ye Fu Yun was instantly excited. “Master of the Pavilion, our Storm Squad signs up. We don’t want points, we only want honor!”
With Yi Ye Fu Yun being the first to sign up, the advanced apprentices present who recovered from their surprise rushed to register, afraid that this raid task would, like the death match, truly limit the quota.
After tallying the quotas, Lin Qi was a bit surprised. In just two days, quite a few more advanced apprentices had appeared. Even Xiao Yuan, who had just stepped into apprentice level in the previous death match, had now reached advanced apprentice. Her talent in learning the Startling Spirit Breathing Technique was exceptional.
After three minutes of counting, there were a full nineteen advanced apprentices in the entire Obsidian Martial Arts Hall. Luo Wu Shang had even reached the level of a limit apprentice, while Zhang Qing Wei was less than ten kilograms of strength away from limit apprentice, with her speed already fully up to standard.
“Damn! This is so unfair! Why do these advanced apprentices get to try it first!”
“Damn it! Why does nothing good ever come to me.”
“Master of the Pavilion, can we talk about this? I’m one step away from advanced apprentice. I don’t want anything, I’m best at throwing my life away.”
“Come on! You lot, all that for half the loot? Have you no shame? Master of the Pavilion, don’t pick them. I only need twenty percent of the loot.”
The many intermediate apprentices present were red-eyed as they watched the advanced apprentices sign up.
This raid task was said to be suicidal, but it was clearly a huge opportunity. Raiding the enemy’s headquarters was the biggest benefit in itself, especially after seeing Fang Zhen and the others, who had only run into a group of poor robbers and still made a fortune. If they raided the Great Ape Gang’s headquarters, even with only half the profit, it would be unimaginable.
“Enough! I understand that you all do not fear death and want to defend the honor of the martial arts hall.” Lin Qi continued speaking in the tone of an NPC. “But this task is special. Only advanced apprentices can pull it off. Those who have signed up now, I’ll give you five minutes to prepare. In five minutes, all of you get on the transport vehicles.”
“Yes!”
The nineteen advanced apprentices present all showed joy and began to prepare.
Welfare!
This was advanced apprentice welfare!
