Chapter 145: A Gentleman Without Peer

Wushuang Junzi's remark instantly put Western Hills Dragon in an awkward position.

It was not that he did not want to retreat, but rather that he had simply been unable to cut Zhang Shan down. Their Western Hills Guild had marched over with such a massive show of force to eliminate their targets, yet the opponents had only three people, and somehow they had failed to take them down. Instead, they had suffered nearly a thousand casualties at Zhang Shan's hands.

How could he possibly save face after this?

They were now caught in a dilemma. While they could technically just retreat—the map of the Heavenly Gate Pass was enormous, and the Wind and Cloud Guild could not possibly search the entire map for them, as that was both unrealistic and impossible—doing so would utterly destroy the Western Hills Guild's reputation, dragging the players from the State of Qi down with them in humiliation.

"We haven't managed to cut down Six-Pipe Bodhisattva yet. That guy is holding a narrow bottleneck where only a few of us can charge through at a time."

Western Hills Dragon had no choice but to tell the truth to Wushuang Junzi, secretly hoping the Wushuang Guild would come and reinforce them.

"How many people do Six-Pipe Bodhisattva and his group have?"

"Three."

Western Hills Dragon found the situation increasingly mortifying.

Wushuang Junzi was speechless for a long time. What kind of utter nonsense was this? After all this time, Western Hills Dragon had led a massive force of Qi players and still hadn't managed to cut down a mere three people?

That was entirely ridiculous.

"Is Six-Pipe Bodhisattva's divine artifact really that invincible? You called so many people over, and you still couldn't take down three people?"

"It is indeed powerful. Even a guardian warrior goes down in three shots, and Six-Pipe Bodhisattva's damage output is absurdly high. But the main reason is that he is holding the terrain; we can't charge through, there's no way around, and we have no choice but to make frontal assaults."

"Alright, understood. I'll gather some people and head over immediately. Try to avoid Wind and Cloud Dominance for now; those several thousand people of his are not easy to deal with."

Hearing that Wushuang Junzi agreed to provide reinforcements, Western Hills Dragon breathed a sigh of relief.

The Wushuang Guild was a veteran top-tier guild that had long secured its place among the top ten guilds in the game, far superior to rising stars like the Wind & Cloud Guild. If not for the sudden emergence of Zhang Shan, the Wind & Cloud Guild would only have been slightly stronger than average guilds in the New World. It was solely due to Zhang Shan joining that they were able to establish a guild ahead of everyone else and gradually take the lead in various aspects.

Although Wushuang Junzi had promised to send reinforcements, Wind and Cloud Dominance would clearly arrive much faster.

Wushuang Junzi still needed some time to rally his members and teleport them over to the Heavenly Gate Pass.

The question was, what should they do right now? Continuing to charge at the passage defended by Zhang Shan was obviously out of the question. Wind and Cloud Dominance would arrive at any moment, and they risked having their rear flanked and being completely wiped out.

However, how could they evade the main force of the Wind & Cloud Guild in advance? They certainly couldn't just scatter and flee like this.

Without hesitating for long, Western Hills Dragon addressed the Qi players present:

"The main force of the Wind & Cloud Guild will be here to reinforce Six-Pipe Bodhisattva very soon. But there's no need to worry; our State of Qi's Wushuang Guild will also arrive immediately. Let's hold our ground for now, and once Wushuang Junzi arrives, we'll settle accounts with them."

"Alright, let's give those Chu dogs a proper beating!"

Western Hills Dragon looked at the surrounding Qi players. There were still a considerable number of them left because reinforcements had continuously trickled in. Therefore, despite having over a thousand players beaten down by Zhang Shan, there were still more than two thousand people remaining on the field.

Western Hills Dragon figured that by organizing a defense, they should be able to hold out until reinforcements from the Wushuang Guild arrived.

Instead of continuing their charges toward Zhang Shan's position, the Qi players slowly retreated from the passage and formed a massive defensive formation not far away.

Over two thousand players formed a large circular defensive perimeter, with warrior classes guarding the outer ring while ranged classes were protected within the center.

"What's going on? The boss and the others are about to arrive, so why hasn't the Western Hills Guild planned to leave yet? Do they really think they can take on our Wind & Cloud Guild with just these two thousand people?"

"Who knows? Maybe they have other reinforcement troops on the way."

"Even if they have reinforcements, they have to survive long enough to meet them. With just this handful of people, the moment our guild's main force arrives, we'll crush them in a single wave."

"Whatever. We'll wait until the boss and the others get here."

Zhang Shan and his two companions stepped out of the passage entrance and could only quietly watch as the Qi players slowly gathered into formation.

They did not dare to go up and disrupt them. Are you kidding? That was over two thousand people! Without a terrain advantage, just the three of them acting recklessly in front of two thousand enemies would result in them being hacked into pulp in mere seconds.

It was better to honestly wait for Wind and Cloud Dominance and the rest to arrive. With seven or eight thousand members in the entire guild, a single wave would be more than enough to easily crush this group of Qi players.

Just as the main force of the Wind & Cloud Guild was about to arrive, Wushuang Junzi of the State of Qi also led his people through the teleportation to the Heavenly Gate Pass.

Their numbers were even greater than those of the Wind & Cloud Guild. In addition to the Wushuang Guild itself, quite a few other Qi players had followed them through the portal.

Led by Wushuang Junzi, a grand total of over ten thousand people surged out of the Heavenly Gate Pass in a mighty and imposing formation.

The large-scale teleportation of the Wushuang Guild to the Heavenly Gate Pass naturally drew everyone's attention.

"Holy cow, the Wushuang Guild is here too? Is a massive war between Qi and Chu about to break out?"

"The Wind & Cloud Guild is probably at a disadvantage then. We haven't seen many other Chu players around; there probably isn't a main force coming to reinforce them, right?"

"I don't see any. Aside from the Wind & Cloud Guild, only the Overlord Guild has any real strength in Chu. The other small guilds are too weak; even if they came, it'd be useless."

"By the way, wasn't Heaven's Slaughter Blade from Chu hanging around the Heavenly Gate earlier?"

"What good would they do being here? They have a deep grudge against the Wind & Cloud Guild. It'll be a miracle if they don't stab them in the back; do you really think they'll reinforce the Wind & Cloud Guild?"

"Whatever, let's just sit back and enjoy the show."

"No way, I've got to go check it out. Such a rare opportunity!"

"You're going to watch a chaotic brawl with this many people involved? Be careful not to get hacked into minced meat by stray blades."

"What's there to be afraid of? I'll just watch from a safe distance."

Zhang Shan and the others were also aware of the Wushuang Guild's arrival, and Wind and Cloud Dominance was currently communicating with them on how to proceed.

"What's the plan? Another ten thousand-plus players from Qi have arrived. Can we handle this?"

"Let's ignore the reinforcements in the back for now and deal with the two thousand people in front of us first. Besides, the ones in the back will take two or three minutes longer to reach us than we will."

"Alright, let's just ram right through them in one wave. Don't be afraid of getting knocked down; the supports will resurrect anyone who falls immediately. We outnumber them locally, so let's wipe out these two thousand people right in front of us first."

Before long, led by Wind and Cloud Dominance, several thousand players from the Wind & Cloud Guild arrived one after another.

The three members of Zhang Shan's group did not step forward to regroup with them. Zhang Shan believed it was better for them to hold this entrance first. Otherwise, if the Qi players charged into the area where Zhang Shan and his team had been farming monsters and blocked the passage from the inside, wouldn't the situation be completely reversed?

If they were locked outside while the Qi players hid inside, that would become quite absurd.

Once the Wushuang Guild's reinforcements arrived, the Wind & Cloud Guild would find themselves caught in a pincer attack from both sides.