Chapter Sixty-Two: The Great Battle

Once all the teammates had entered, the situation instantly reversed. Although the Celestial Guild had more than ten times their number, most of them hadn’t even reached level twenty yet. The majority were still equipped with level fifteen gear, which paled in comparison to the uniform level twenty equipment worn by Zhang Shan and his companions.

With his berserk mode activated, Zhang Shan’s explosive firepower quickly felled all the squishy ranged opponents around him. Meteors and a barrage of stun skills rained down on him—completely ineffective. Such was the power of the berserk skill: immunity to all control effects. No matter what stunning abilities landed, they had no effect on him.

“Warriors, surround Six-Barreled Bodhisattva and box him in! Limit his movement range. Everyone else, focus on killing Windchime!” Seeing Zhang Shan rampaging through their ranks, felling every ranged combatant before they could even approach, Celestial Dragonblade was in a panic, his previous arrogance vanished.

“Everyone, regroup around me! Protect the support! If you can’t get through, go all out and take at least one down with you!” He called his teammates to converge on his position, as Zhang Shan was still unable to help them. At least twenty Celestial Guild warriors and magic swordsmen surrounded him. Even several rogues had boxed him in, taking advantage of Zhang Shan’s focus on the outer ranged attackers to launch a frenzied assault.

The berserk effect lasted nine seconds and was about to end. He had to take down the surrounding rogues before the skill wore off. Otherwise, if they started stunning him one after another, even Windchime might not be able to heal him fast enough.

Zhang Shan brought down the last rogue at his side, and most of his teammates broke through and converged on him. Only Gale Blade was unlucky, positioned farther away. More importantly, his reputation made him a target—over a dozen Celestial Guild members had locked onto him the moment he entered, giving him no chance to break free.

“Damn it, you want to kill me? I’ll take a few of you down first!” Gale Blade roared, charging at a nearby mage and unleashing Twin Blades, instantly killing the mage. Though the charge and Twin Blades combo allowed him to eliminate one mage, he was quickly surrounded again and had no chance to escape. With his charge skill on cooldown, Gale Blade had no more acceleration or movement skills left.

The dozen or so Celestial Guild members no longer had to worry about him escaping by dashing to a target on the edge. “Take him down! Kill Gale Blade first! Just a few days ago in Anyang City, he killed several of us. This time, we’ll make sure he dies and camp his corpse!”

With his skills spent, Gale Blade was like a fish on the chopping block, swinging his axe left and right but unable to kill anyone. Without the charge to slow or the burst of Twin Blades, no one would stand still for him to hit—anyone struck would simply back off and heal. Meanwhile, Gale Blade had to endure attacks from all sides. His gear was formidable, but in such circumstances, all he could do was delay his fall for a few seconds.

Many ants can kill an elephant—Gale Blade stopped struggling after a few seconds and was cut down in a flurry of blows, falling to the ground.

As the other teammates drew closer to Zhang Shan, the warriors surrounding him no longer dared press the attack and scattered in all directions. However, trying to escape now was clearly too late. Storm Cannon, Heart Follows Mine, and the others surged forward and intercepted most of them.

“All together, let’s see if our two hundred can’t beat their ten!” Celestial Dragonblade roared in fury. Nearly two hundred members of the Celestial Guild remained. He figured that sheer numbers would be enough to overwhelm Zhang Shan’s group.

“Don’t worry about the outside. Focus on finishing off the ten or so warriors here. Leave the rest to me—they won’t get through.” As soon as Zhang Shan spoke, the others didn’t hesitate and continued attacking the warriors who had boxed him in earlier.

“Charge! I refuse to believe that a divine weapon can be this powerful—just swarm him and cut him down!” Nearly two hundred surged forward. In reality, due to distance and positioning, only about ten could face Zhang Shan’s group head-on at a time.

As the Celestial Guild’s wave entered Zhang Shan’s range, he unleashed a torrent of firepower. The front line fell in moments, unable to even approach him. With overwhelming firepower and an extraordinary range, Zhang Shan was currently able to prevent almost any melee fighter from closing in.

Had the Celestial Guild not blocked the map entrance before, they would have been finished long ago.

In two quick rounds, Zhang Shan felled more than twenty enemies of all classes. Even the Celestial Guild’s guardian warriors couldn’t reach him and fell under his barrage before getting close.

Meanwhile, Storm Cannon and the others dealt with all the nearby attackers, forcing the survivors to flee back to the main Celestial Guild force. No one dared give chase—not everyone was like Zhang Shan or the Little Secretary, able to survive amidst thousands.

The Little Secretary relied on pure toughness, while Zhang Shan depended partly on his health, but more importantly, on his immense firepower to quickly eliminate threats around him. With fewer threats nearby, he naturally survived longer.

The battlefield now entered a stalemate. The Celestial Guild no longer dared to charge, seeing there was no chance to reach Zhang Shan’s group. Any further attempts would just be sending more of their men to their deaths.

Celestial Dragonblade’s confidence had vanished; their numerical advantage seemed useless against Zhang Shan’s group. Zhang Shan alone was like an invincible turret, shattering their morale and stripping away any pride the great guild once had.

“Six-Barreled Bodhisattva, what do you want? This started as a minor conflict—did you really have to chase us all the way to Yingtian City? Must this be a fight to the death?” Celestial Dragonblade’s voice was harsh, but there was a clear hint of submission.

Zhang Shan had no intention of letting them go. Each kill was worth ten thousand gold, and even if he relented, the Celestial Guild would never let this go. Whenever they had a chance, they would certainly come after him in the future. Wolves roam for meat, dogs for filth—this lot would never become friendly. Since he had the opportunity to strike hard now, why hold back?

“I don’t want anything. Someone hired me to deal with you, and I’m just doing my job. No hard feelings,” Zhang Shan replied with casual mockery.

“Let’s end this here. Whatever Heart Follows Mine paid you, I’ll pay double,” Celestial Dragonblade pleaded, truly unwilling to continue. Their levels and gear were already lagging behind the top players, and now they’d suffered heavy losses. If this went on, the former glory of the top ten guilds would never return.

“Hmph. Celestial Dragonblade, you want to outbid me? Brother Six-Barreled, keep going—I’ll pay fifty thousand gold for every kill, including those you’ve already taken.” Heart Follows Mine spoke excitedly. Following Zhang Shan this time, they had turned the Celestial Guild upside down, venting his long-held frustration.

But it still wasn’t enough. He was the scion of a wealthy family—when had he ever been humiliated like this? It wasn’t just that the Celestial Guild killed him once; they even boasted about it openly on the world channel, as if it wasn’t enough to kill him—they had to drag his corpse out for everyone to see.

Did he not care about his reputation? As for money, he didn’t worry about it at all. Anything that could be solved with money was trivial to someone like him.