Chapter 912: Pop Culture
Translator: alyschu
"Victory and defeat is commonplace in battles, not to mention that your opponent was Snowy Cathaya. You all did very well already," He Yi consoled the team when they returned to the waiting area.
Hugging his sword and leaning against a wall at the back, Li Chengfeng smiled lazily and replied, "Yeah, Snowy Cathaya is a worthy opponent, and weâre the ones who werenât good enough to beat them. Next year, weâll be good enough to beat everyone we meet and encounter the first seed in the finals. Next time, no Snowy Cathaya or Warsky Alliance will be able to block our way..."
Warsky wasnât sitting far away from us, so he heard this and shot Chengfeng the stink eye. "Really? Youâre mocking us when weâre already out of the WEL?"
Undeterred, Li Chengfeng pointed at Warsky and laughed, "Warsky Alliance? More like Bitter Pill Alliance ahahahaha..."
Warsky immediately turned purple in the face.
......
The next match was between Pop Culture and Candle Dragon. It was a battle between a dark horse and a favorite to win the WEL. Pop Culture had three solid point securers in the team, and they were two warriors and one archer. In fact, almost all of their perfect victories were thanks to the exquisite movement and control of the two warriors. They were almost at the same level as Chaos Moon, and that was very impressive.
Standing at the edge of the arena, Candlelight Shadow greeted Pop Culture with a smile and said, "Brothers and sisters of Pop Culture, it looks like fate has brought us together today. Whatever the result may be, I hope that thereâll be no hard feelings between our guilds. As a show of respect to your ability to make it to the quarter-finals, I promise that weâll give it out all in the upcoming battle!"
The guild leader of Pop Culture was a warrior called "Lone Moonshadeâ. He returned the smile and replied, "Thank you for confirming our strength, Martial God. We promise to give it our all as well so that we wonât bring shame to Candle Dragonâs name!"
Candlelight Shadow let out a refreshing laugh. "Very well. Then we shall meet on the battlefield again!"
"Yes!"
While Candlelight Shadow was speaking with Lone Moonshade, Godâs Dance was talking to Pop Culture as well. They looked like they were on friendly terms at the very least.
......
"It looks like Candlelight Shadow is planning to recruit Pop Culture into his guild. Even if they refuse, Iâm sure heâll turn them into an ally guild somehow," Lin Yixin commented as she stared at the group.
He Yi nodded in agreement as a small frown crept onto her expression. "The worst part about this is that Pop Culture is a guild in Sky City. Hmph, I can already imagine his scheme in my mind. Heâs planning to expand Candle Dragonâs influence in Sky City through them and eat away at our strength."
I replied, "Itâs a pretty good plan actually. Pop Culture will be the one investing the resources and manpower to uproot us. Candle Dragon just needs to sit on their asses and provide Pop Culture with moral support. Worse comes to worst, they donât lose anything."
Stranger of Three Lifetimes said, "No problem, we can just copy their tactic and expand Ancient Sword Dreaming Soulsâ influence in Wind City. I refuse to believe that Candle Dragon is the be-all-and-end-all in Wind City, hmph!"
A smile crossed Lin Yixinâs lips. "Momoâs right. We even have the perfect candidate already; Indigo Collarâs Peach Garden has been fighting Candle Dragon from the beginning. Weâll form an alliance with them and slowly expand our power in Wind City. At this stage, being satisfied with just one corner of the world is going to end in disaster anyway. This applies to Ancient Sword, Snowy Cathaya, Blazing Hot Lips, The Monarch Descends and Baidicheng. There are countless people who are vying for our territory. If you want to keep your gold, then youâd better give it your all, everyone!"
Stranger of Three Lifetimes giggled. "Yeah, and letâs not forget that both guild leaders of Ancient Sword and Snowy Cathaya are super gorgeous babes. It would suck if some buffoon claimed them as their mistresses of the fort, right? Lu Chen, for the sake of your girls, youâd better form the best alliance you can think of!"
At the side, Li Chengfeng added with a wicked grin, "Candlelight Shadow must be feeling really unsettled right now, or he wouldnât try to recruit allies all over the place. We canât fall behind either. Multiple wars will break out across the entire Heavenblessed Continent once the WEL is over, so clench your teeth and work hard, everyone!"
"Mn. We can think about that after the WEL is over. Chengfeng, I leave the guild and Dark Moon City in Little Gui, Chaos Moon and your hands."
"Understood. We wonât disappoint you, vice leader!"
......
Pop Culture and Candle Dragonâs match was already over by the time we finished talking. Candle Dragon had beaten Pop Culture with a 4:1 score, and Blue Sky Scar lost his match to Lone Moonshade. It was on purpose. If Candle Dragon had annihilated Pop Culture 10:0, it wouldâve been a difficult defeat for the latter to swallow even if they already received a warning beforehand. They would also be less inclined to join Candle Dragon as a matter of course.
I also performed an in-depth check on Pop Culture. The guild was formed about four months ago, and their power swelled starting the second month. Currently, their main guild was capped at fifty thousand members, and their seven Rank 6 subguilds had around thirty thousand members each. In total, they numbered around two hundred thousand members. It was quite the sizable power, and the only reason they didnât stand out was because they didnât do stupid shit that wealthy guilds like Mad Dragon and Flower Room usually indulged in such as chasing players away from leveling maps, PK, petty drama and more. The way those fuckers acted, you would think that Sky City was too small for the likes of them.
However, Pop Cultureâs low profile only made me even more wary of them. Lone Moonshade might not be as strong as Candlelight Shadow, but he was countless times stronger than the likes of Wang Dongliang, Lu Chao, Li Le and even the "Gods" of Gods of Destruction. Otherwise, Candle Dragon would never have paid attention to them.
Not long after the competition ended, the emblem on Lone Moonshadeâs shoulder changed color. As expected, Pop Culture had joined Candle Dragonâs alliance and became their ally guild.
After the match was over, Lone Moonshade returned to the waiting area, set down his heavy sword and leaned against the handrail in a lazy manner.
Li Chengfeng walked up to him and asked, "Hey bro! Pop Cultureâs a guild in Sky City, right? Why are you allying with a distant guild like Candle Dragon? Long-distance alliances might work in reality, but Iâm not so sure about its effectiveness in this game..."
Lone Moonshade shot Li Chengfeng a glance before straightening his back. "Oh, youâre Legendary Brave! I apologize for my unsightly posture, haha! Anyway, Candle Dragon is a strong and humble master who pays respects to the wise. Surely they are not the worst ally Pop Culture could find, am I right?"
"Are you sure you have no other choice?" Li Chengfeng asked tentatively, "Take us, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, for example. We may not know what it means to âpay respect to the wiseâ, but we definitely know how to bleed for our brothers and sisters. Maybe you would like to consider us as a potential ally?"
An inexplicable look flashed across Lone Moonshadeâs pupils, but he quickly recovered and let out a chuckle. "Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. How would we look if we swayed to another guild so soon after we became allies with Candle Dragon? Plus, you already have powerful allies like Snowy Cathaya, The Monarch Descends, Blazing Hot Lips and more. Surely you donât need us Pop Culture? Also, you and your allies have already hogged all the player territories in Sky City such as Dark Moon City, Silver Fir City, and The Monarch Descendsâ new territory. If we, Pop Culture, wish to expand further, our only solution is to seek out an ally who can give us what we need, am I right?"
A mocking smile sprung to Lone Moonshadeâs lips at that moment. "Relax, Li Chengfeng. You should be thankful that we chose to ally with Candle Dragon instead of Warsky Alliance. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Snowy Cathaya and The Monarch Descends had taken up too much player resources in Sky City, so the only way for us new guys to establish ourselves is to eh, start an âinsurrectionâ so to speak. Warsky Alliance was our first choice, and Candle Dragon, our second. Since Candlelight Shadow is willing to show us some humility, we ultimately decided to go with Candle Dragon instead of Warsky Alliance. That is all. Anyway, Pop Culture will establish a foothold in Sky City, you can count on it!"
Li Chengfeng sucked in a deep breath. Knowing that there was no way to change Lone Moonshadeâs mind, he shot the guild leader a smile and replied, "Very well, we all have our own choices to make. However, I must warn you that Candle Dragon is our sworn enemy, and the only way weâll respond to them and their allies is with our blades. With that in mind, I hope that weâll not meet on the battlefield. Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls will always prefer to have a friend than an enemy."
Lone Moonshade smiled. "This is an era of heroes. If we meet on the battlefield, then we will fight to our heartâs content. Itâs that simple, isnât it?"
It was at this moment I walked over and clapped Li Chengfeng on the shoulder. Then, I smiled at Lone Moonshade and said, "Heâs right, dude. If we donât fight to our heartâs content when we are young, weâll regret it when old age hits us. If Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Pop Culture are destined to meet in battle, then our only option is to make it as terrific as possible, am I right Chengfeng?"
Li Chengfeng responded with a meaningful smile, "But of course! Iâm a better warmonger than a peacemaker anyway. But you didnât hear this from me, okay? Itâs all my boss's fault..."
"Fuck you!"
I pretended to glare at him, but broke into a fearless smile of my own. "Yes. If our enemies want to make it rain, then weâll make it pour."
Lone Moonshade looked surprised as we turned our backs on him and left. The fucker thought us cowards who wanted peace with his guild, but all I could say was that he read us wrong completely. Li Chengfeng wasnât joking when he called himself and me warmongers. If Pop Culture wished to bring the fight to us, then we would happily return it tenfold. If we couldnât deal with a mere Pop Culture, we wouldnât be ruling Sky City as we were today.
......
It was at this moment Feiâer stepped onto the stage on her high heels and spoke into the mic, "We are now at the last match of the quarter-finals. They are Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls and Sword Lord of Jianghu!"
It was yet again a battle between a super guild and a dark horse. Sword Lord of Jianghu looked like a bunch of silent, taciturn players, and three of their four players had hidden classes. None of the opponents they encountered up until this point were particularly strong, which meant the possibility that they kept much of their strategies and skills concealed were very real. This was going to be a difficult battle for sure.
"Your enemies are very powerful. Take care..." It sounded like Lin Yixin was caring for me, but she couldnât hide that hint of schadenfreude in her voice.
I grinned fearlessly at her before looking at He Yi, "Letâs kick off this match with a bang, shall we? Leave the first match to me. I donât want to risk Sword Lord of Jianghu riding a high in case they get lucky."
He Yi nodded in agreement. "Very well. Lu Chen will fight the first match, Beiming Xue the second, Lian Xin the third, I the fourth, and Lu Chen plus Beiming Xue for the final 2v2. Best-case scenario, we take this by storm and end this 3:0!"
"Got it!" The girls all nodded in unison.
A while later, the match-ups appeared on the big displayâ
1v1: Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyouji
1v1: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer VS Amber Pupil LV-180 Dark Swordsman
1v1: Lian Xing LV-182 Phantasm of Stars VS Romantic Ashes LV-180 Magic Swordsman
1v1: From Water LV-180 Magic Knight VS Superb Ai Jia LV-180 Tamer
2v2: Beiming Xue LV-183 Dark Archer & Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand LV-182 Undead Swordsman VS Now and Forever LV-181 Onmyouji & Amber Pupil LV-180 Dark Swordsman
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