Everyone who's been in large-scale battles knows the priority: take out the healers first. That was exactly why Xiaoyao Qingfeng had a full hundred-priest unit following closely behind him, ensuring his Holy Shield skill could stay active almost indefinitely.
After all, Holy Shield gave three seconds of invincibility and had a five-minute cooldown. To keep it up constantly without any gaps, at least a hundred priests needed to rotate casting without a single mistake.
But in large-scale battles, mistakes were inevitable.
The moment Xiaoyao Qingfeng entered the battlefield, Xingchen Zuoan instantly and tacitly signaled their team to target the priests behind him.
Dozens of assassins vanished into stealth, slamming forward with Shield Slam, while Jiang Bai's Multishot and the mages' Rain of Fire rained destruction from afar.
Chaos broke out in the priest group behind Xiaoyao Qingfeng, and less than a minute later, his Holy Shield shattered.
"Motherf—!"
"Shield! SHIELD!"
"Somebody get me a f***ing SHIELD!"
Just as he was screaming, "My Holy—", a Piercing Arrow flew in and went straight through his forehead.
"-2321!"
"CRITICAL HIT!"
"Instant kill!!!"
"Holy sh*t!"
"Boss got one-shot again!"
"Jesus, that's twice in a row—he's down two levels!"
Jiang Bai's arrow left Xiaoyao Guild shaking in terror.
"Damn impressive."
Xingchen Zuoan shot Jiang Bai a deep look, feeling even more confident that he had bet on the right person.
"That's the second time."
Jiang Bai calmly put away his longbow, turned around, and began searching for Emperor of Cloud City.
He should've respawned by now.
But Jiang Bai wouldn't find him immediately. Emperor of Cloud City had indeed respawned several minutes ago and was now standing silently at the respawn point, face dark.
Until Xiaoyao Qingfeng respawned right beside him.
Emperor of Cloud City glanced at him."Finally! I've been waiting forever!"
"F**k you, man!"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng, raging, snapped back. "So you were just waiting for me to die?!"
"I just dropped to level 7!!!"
Emperor of Cloud City flared up too. "Bullsh*t! I'm not taking this lying down!"
"F**k it! Let's go again—I've never backed down in my life!!!"
"I wanna see how long they can hold out! Worst case, I'll drop to level 5!"
Fired up, Xiaoyao Qingfeng charged back into the fight without hesitation. Naturally, Emperor of Cloud City followed closely. After dying twice, both men were borderline unhinged.
Three minutes later, respawn point...
Their third resurrection. The two locked eyes.
Emperor of Cloud City: "You're finally here…"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng: "Yeah… I'm finally here…"
Emperor: "I'm level 6 now…"
Xiaoyao: "Me too…"
Emperor: "Any last words?"
Xiaoyao: "Not really. I just wanna beat the crap out of 'Empty City Dream's' girlfriend!!!"
Five minutes later…
Now totally unequipped, the two once again met at the respawn point.
Emperor: "I think we've made progress."
Xiaoyao: "How do you figure?"
Emperor: "We lasted five more minutes this time. That means 'Empty City Dream' is starting to falter."
Xiaoyao thought it over and nodded seriously. "You make a good point, bro."
Ten minutes later…
Now naked and reduced to level 5, the two respawned and ran back out.
Nothing to lose anymore—no gear, no level. Emperor of Cloud City stood boldly in the center of the battlefield in just his triangular underwear, bellowing:
"Brothers!"
"Charge!!!"
"Fight to the death!!!"
"They don't have many left! Today, no matter what, 'Empty City Dream' must die! Even if we all drop to level 5, even if we lose every piece of gear—I'll compensate you all for every item lost!!!"
The battlefield had become pure carnage.
As for Emperor and Xiaoyao, they were already whiteboards—naked and stripped of gear by Jiang Bai.
Each guild had started with nearly ten thousand players, but with respawn timers increasing, fewer than five thousand remained on the field; the rest were waiting for long resurrection cooldowns.
Xingchen's side and the freelancers were in similar shape. After accounting for opportunists, their numbers were actually slightly lower.
Most players had died so many times they were barely functional, even post-respawn.
Yet neither side showed any sign of giving up.
It had already been an hour.
Viewer counts in the livestream room kept climbing—over 2 million watching.
Ferrari One-Handed: "Are these 33856 guys insane? Still fighting?"
King of Fap: "This is passion. Real damn passion! I'm tempted to jump in myself."
Hit Me = Mom Dies: "But seriously, 'Empty City Dream' hasn't died once. Dude's killed hundreds already!"
Insult Me = Dad Dies: "Right? What the hell is that gear? Ancient tier equipment or something?"
It's Keke: "Shut up, dumbasses. Stop talking about my hubby!!!"
JamesMVP: "Huh, since when do I have a daughter-in-law? When you coming over to meet dad?"
Tired Macho: "Whoa, since when did I get a granddaughter-in-law? Come visit grandpa sometime!"
Houhai Non-Sea: "Yoooo, when did I get a great-granddaughter-in-law? Come to the coffin and let great-grandpa have a look!"
Sewer Beauty Donkey: "Madam, you wouldn't want 'Empty City Dream' to know about this, would you?"
…
If Jiang Bai saw this chat, he'd probably puke blood on the spot.
The comment section was wild, but then the battlefield changed—dramatically.
Somehow, Emperor of Cloud City had called in reinforcements. A guild called Against Heaven began pouring in from the teleportation zone—thousands of them.
"Brothers! Reinforcements are here!!!"
Seeing the black tide of 3,000 players from the Against Heaven guild, Emperor of Cloud City, in his sagging underwear, got fired up again.
"Can players from other regions teleport here now?"
Jiang Bai's eyes narrowed. If that was the case, this fight had just turned into something else entirely.
"This is no longer an internal matter of 33856…"
"I heard once the boss teleport array is passed, it unlocks instant transfers—any guild can come!"
"Damn! They can really call in reinforcements?!"
With this influx of fresh forces, the tide of battle turned immediately.
Not only did they have numbers, but the 33856 players were already low-level and unequipped. At least half of them were fighting naked.
In contrast, Against Heaven was full-level and fully geared.
There was no contest.
The battlefield instantly became a one-sided slaughter—Against Heaven was mowing down enemies like leaves in the wind.
"Hahaha!!!"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng was overjoyed. "Thanks, brothers from Against Heaven! After this war, all loot on the battlefield is yours—as thanks for the help!"
Crazy Dragon from Against Heaven laughed. "Doesn't matter. We're just here to help. I've heard so much about 'Empty City Dream' from 33856—guess he's not all that."
"Brothers! Whoever gets gear from Empty City Dream, I'll give 50 gold as a reward!"
Xingchen Zuoan: "Xiaoyao Qingfeng, you shameless traitor! You've got no honor!"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng: "Who needs honor? Hahaha…"
"'Empty City Dream,' today you're dead, no matter what!!!"
Emperor of Cloud City was dancing with joy, fully revived in spirit.
But Jiang Bai didn't respond.
Because he knew—this situation had turned grim.
He hadn't seen his HP bar full in a while. It hovered around 30% max. The healing couldn't keep up anymore.
He knew: today, he was going to die.
But it didn't matter—just losing one level. No big deal.
He turned his head and saw Xingchen Momo at 7% HP, quietly chugging a potion. She looked up at him and smiled sweetly.
"Why are you peeking, big brother?"
"Thanks—"
Jiang Bai didn't get to finish.
Suddenly, a Stun icon appeared over Xingchen Momo's head. A rogue emerged from stealth behind her, dagger gleaming.
One strike.
Xingchen Momo was instantly killed.
"Xingchen Momo is down! Xingchen Momo is down!"
The news exploded across the battlefield.
Morale plummeted on Xingchen's side, while Xiaoyao and Emperor's sides roared with excitement.
They knew—Empty City Dream and Xingchen Momo were the core.
"Motherf—!!!"
Silent until now, Jiang Bai suddenly erupted. Eyes bloodshot, he locked onto the rogue who killed Momo and unleashed Explosive Shot.
The Against Heaven rogue fell instantly.
But the tide had already turned.
With Momo down, her priest team fell moments later.
Jiang Bai's HP bar dropped like a roller coaster, shredded by countless skills.
Against Heaven had even assigned a 500-player squad solely to take him down.
He was on the verge of collapse.
All eyes were locked on Jiang Bai's health bar.
4%...
3%...
2%...
When it hit 1%, the entire battlefield held its breath. Everyone was shaking, on the verge of exploding—
"EMPTY CITY DREAM'S ABOUT TO DIE!!!"
"Will he drop that legendary item?!"
And in that final instant…
A blinding golden Holy Shield suddenly enveloped Jiang Bai out of nowhere.
Every single skill and damage instance—completely nullified.
Then came a series of massive heals, pulling his HP back to over 50%.
Behind him, a powerful voice thundered through the field:
"Tang Dynasty players, target Cloud City, Xiaoyao, and Against Heaven—KILL THEM ALL!!!"