“Tell everyone to prepare. It's time to close the net,” said Han Jia Gongzi.

Gu Xiao Shang nodded and relayed the order through the ranks.

“You can also remind Wushi Zhi Jian,” Han Jia Gongzi said.

Gu Xiao Shang smiled, “I already did.”

Wushi Zhi Jian was about to face disaster, but he felt great, simply because Gu Xiao Shang had sent him a message of concern. The brothers around Wushi Zhi Jian were very impressed that he could still smile so naturally at a time like this. Zongheng Sihai was in utter chaos, and no one's words carried any weight. Gu Fei had suddenly appeared and killed nearly a hundred people, but the collapse of the giant stone pyramid, with its rolling stones, had instantly crippled a third of Zongheng Sihai's forces. But the disaster wasn't over yet; physics told them that the greater the mass, the greater the inertia, and the giant stone gate was still rolling merrily along!

“Wushi, retreat!” Someone near Wushi Zhi Jian, a close friend, shouted.

“Qian Li Zui is about to appear,” Wushi Zhi Jian, finally valuing Qian Li Zui, thought after enjoying Gu Xiao Shang's message.

“Oh? Where did you get that information?” Everyone began to look around warily.

“Xiao Shang told me.” Wushi Zhi Jian smiled again involuntarily at the mention of the name.

His close friends naturally knew Wushi Zhi Jian's weakness, and now they understood why he had been smiling earlier. Drops of sweat formed on their foreheads: no wonder he was smiling so ambiguously.

“Regardless, let's get out of here first,” someone said. Wushi Zhi Jian's position wasn't too close to the battlefield, so the giant stone disaster had only affected the onlookers and hadn't reached him yet. But judging by the relentless flow of the giant stones, it was only a matter of time before they rolled over, and players everywhere were retreating!

“Go!” Wushi Zhi Jian focused and stopped thinking about Gu Xiao Shang, leading his men to retreat.

Looking around at his countless brothers fleeing in panic, Wushi Zhi Jian finally felt a pang of regret. He wanted to say something in the channel to soothe everyone's emotions but didn't know what to say. As the saying goes, when an army is defeated, it collapses like a mountain; how could a few words salvage this situation?

Just as Wushi Zhi Jian felt helpless, a brother suddenly shouted, “There's a stealth assassin!” As he spoke, a group of people quickly gathered around Wushi Zhi Jian. A black figure flashed in front of them at the same time, and someone in the center was instantly bathed in white light. Wushi Zhi Jian's defenses were wide open, and the figure didn't show any mercy, swiftly slashing across. However, the sacrifice of the previous man had obviously mitigated a large amount of damage, and Wushi Zhi Jian was knocked to the ground but not killed.

A priest's healing spell was immediately cast on Wushi Zhi Jian. In terms of a balanced team of multi-class supporting roles, this group tightly surrounding the guild leader, Wushi Zhi Jian, was undoubtedly the most elite force in Zongheng Sihai. The anti-stealth pre-empted Jian Gui's (Sword Devil) sneak attack, and their quick positioning protected Wushi Zhi Jian. If Jian Gui's “Mist Shadow Assault” wasn't such an overpowered skill, no one would have been sacrificed at all.

But the sacrifice of one person didn't greatly shake their morale. Everyone's eyes were already locked onto Jian Gui. The anti-stealth from before hurriedly reminded, “Be careful, there's another one. Four o'clock!”

Clock positioning.

The greatest advantage of this positioning method was that the direction of twelve o'clock varied from person to person. At this moment, Jian Gui also knew clock positioning and heard the other side pointing out four o'clock, but he couldn't figure out where that four o'clock was. Because he didn't know how Wushi Zhi Jian and his men were accustomed to defining the direction of twelve o'clock.

And the opposing mage had already cast an area-of-effect spell in the direction they considered to be four o'clock.

Before the flames could ignite, another figure flashed out. At this time, Yan Xiao Zhu could only abandon her stealth, and her face showed a hint of horror. She wasn't unfamiliar with anti-stealth skills, but this was the first time she had encountered such a precise judgment of her position.

“Jian Gui, why bother?” Wushi Zhi Jian said with a bitter face.

Jian Gui, of course, didn't show any deep-seated hatred towards Wushi Zhi Jian. He pulled down his mask and smiled at Wushi Zhi Jian, saying, “It's just the mission content set by the game. Guild Leader Wushi, please don't take it too hard.”

“I know, but we're all good friends. It's a bit awkward to meet like this,” Wushi Zhi Jian played the emotional card.

Jian Gui remained unmoved and earnestly reminded Wushi Zhi Jian, “Guild Leader Wushi, don't be soft-hearted, or we'll win unfairly.”

“Jian Gui…”

“Guild Leader Wushi…” Jian Gui interrupted Wushi Zhi Jian, but his tone was very sincere. “If you say any more, my skill cooldown will be over.”

Jian Gui was, after all, an honest person. If Wushi Zhi Jian had tried to bribe him with any benefits, he wouldn't have been moved in the slightest. But playing the emotional card was quite effective on Jian Gui. By using this opportunity to chat with each other, he could have taken the chance to wait for the “Mist Shadow Assault” cooldown to end. However, he directly revealed this point to Wushi Zhi Jian. At the same time, he also made it clear that he would see the mission through to the end.

Wushi Zhi Jian also admired Jian Gui's character and nodded, saying, “Then I'll have to offend you.”

They weren't so afraid of Jian Gui. Although that ghost-like skill was terrifying, Jian Gui had just used it and it was on cooldown. Everyone quickly rushed towards him. That skill was too powerful, and everyone believed that they couldn't dodge it. Therefore, the best strategy was to kill Jian Gui before his cooldown ended.

As everyone charged forward, Jian Gui turned and ran. No one could match his movement speed except for instant teleportation. Wushi Zhi Jian and his team took a few steps, tears streaming down their faces. Jian Gui was indeed an honest person, but his fighting style wasn't honest at all. If he kept running like this, it would take some time to catch up. By then, his skill cooldown would be over, and whoever was in front would die quickly!

Although Wushi Zhi Jian's team was elite, there weren't many of them, so it was impossible to carry out a large-scale encirclement. He shouted a few times in the channel, but there was no response. Everyone was too busy to look at the guild channel. It was still Feng Xing and Dao Ying Nian Hua, the core members who cared about guild matters, who checked the channel when they received a message. When they saw Wushi Zhi Jian's shouts, they quickly sent a message, “What's the situation?”

“We encountered Jian Gui. This guy wants to kite us to death. Come and support us quickly, coordinates xxx, xxx,” Wushi Zhi Jian quickly said.

Dao Ying Nian Hua had just died alone and returned to the camp, but there were many Zongheng Sihai players who had died and returned to the camp as well. He was reorganizing the team and comforting their emotions. Feng Xing hadn't died and was leading a small team, dodging the giant stone disaster and retreating. When he received Wushi Zhi Jian's message, he immediately raised his arm and shouted, “The enemy has appeared, everyone follow me!”

Wushi Zhi Jian, Dao Ying Nian Hua, and Feng Xing. The three core members of Zongheng Sihai. The biggest characteristics of these three people were respectively posing, scheming, and being bellicose. As core members, each of them naturally had their own familiar team gathered around them. Whether it was leveling, missions, or PK, they were often together.

And the style of each team varied due to the characteristics of its leader. Wushi Zhi Jian was the guild leader, making it easier to allocate guild resources. He had smoothly gathered the elite masters of the guild around him, and with his posing habit, his team was the most self-righteous. Of course, they were indeed worthy of being self-righteous. Then there was Dao Ying Nian Hua, whose men were influenced by him and were all idea kings. Whether their plans worked or not was another matter, but their imaginations were very rich. As for Feng Xing, he had gathered a group of bandits who loved sparring and PK. From a game data perspective, Wushi's team was indeed the most elite, and their coordination was also very high. They were the strongest when it came to fighting bosses or system events. But when it came to the ever-changing matter of PK, Wushi's team had to be wary of Feng Xing's team's combat power.

Hearing that Feng Xing was bringing people over soon and that they weren't far away, Wushi Zhi Jian breathed a sigh of relief and said to the people around him, “Feng Xing is coming, everyone hold on! If it really doesn't work… then try to stall for as long as possible.”

Everyone understood the meaning of Wushi Zhi Jian's words. If it really didn't work, stalling for as long as possible meant that they should act as meat shields to block for him. Everyone nodded, and they weren't unhappy with this. After all, they were very close to Wushi Zhi Jian. Wushi Zhi Jian wasn't afraid of death, but he was tasked with being assassinated. Who knew if dying during this mission would cause any major damage to the guild? If this was Jian Gui or Qian Li Zui's personal action, Wushi Zhi Jian would definitely confidently stand up and propose a one-on-one duel. Being killed by Qian Li Zui in a one-on-one duel wasn't a disgrace at all. As for daring to take the initiative to challenge Qian Li Zui, that was something worth promoting.

While running, Jian Gui paid attention to the positioning of Wushi Zhi Jian and his men. Waiting for the “Mist Shadow Assault” cooldown? That was indeed a possibility, but Jian Gui's fighting style wouldn't be so simple. A powerful skill's damage was only one use, and the threat that the existence of this skill posed to the enemy was a kind of restraint. For example, right now, no matter how Wushi Zhi Jian and his men moved, someone would be covering between Jian Gui and Wushi. This was thanks to the restraint of “Mist Shadow Assault.” Otherwise, Wushi Zhi Jian, as a warrior, wouldn't be so wary of an assassin.

After Jian Gui led them around for two laps, he found that the positioning of these people wasn't chaotic at all. The most elite team of Zongheng Sihai could also be said to be the most elite in Cloud City in a sense. It was too difficult to fight this team one-on-one. If it weren't for “Mist Shadow Assault,” he probably wouldn't have had a chance at all. Jian Gui thought while not finding an opportunity to strike. The cooldown of Mist Shadow Assault was actually over, but Jian Gui didn't use it immediately. First, he didn't want the other side to grasp the cooldown time of this skill. Second, even the strongest skill had to be used at the right opportunity. Rushing over, killing one person, and then stopping in the middle of the opponent's encirclement was still asking for death.

While the two sides were chasing each other, Yan Xiao Zhu seemed to have been forgotten, standing alone to the side. Wushi Zhi Jian and his men didn't recognize her and didn't know that she was a figure on the thief rankings. They were used to underestimating girls. Yan Xiao Zhu had obviously experienced this kind of treatment before, and she was very depressed, thinking angrily about how to show these guys some of her skills.

Along with everyone's positioning, Yan Xiao Zhu suddenly used Swift Approach to get close. In the eyes of the experienced Jian Gui, this move was too reckless. He didn't believe that Wushi Zhi Jian and his men had really forgotten about this little girl and hurriedly shouted, “Be careful!”

“Watch me!” Yan Xiao Zhu was quite proud, but Wushi Zhi Jian and his men were indeed prepared. Seeing this girl come over, they suddenly slowed their pace and charged in the opposite direction. The left and right flanks each had someone repositioning. Before Yan Xiao Zhu could figure out what was going on, she found herself surrounded.

No one even talked to her. The mage directly threw an area-of-effect spell. Yan Xiao Zhu hurriedly wanted to dodge, but the people surrounding her maintained the size of the circle, skillfully circling around, and someone immediately blocked the path she had chosen to retreat. Yan Xiao Zhu didn't have time to change direction and had to rush forward and fight. As she approached, she raised her hand and released a cloud of green powder.

Wushi Zhi Jian and his men had never seen this kind of attack before and were completely unprepared. The person who was hit squarely instantly went blind and immediately opened his mouth to inform the others of his current situation, “I can't see anything!!!”

“Blindness? Is it Yan Xiao Zhu??” Someone exclaimed in surprise. Zongheng Sihai's intelligence network was also quite capable, and they paid attention to collecting information on the masters in the game, both to recruit them and to treat them as potential enemies. Although they didn't know Yan Xiao Zhu personally, they knew that this female thief had a skill that no one else currently had: Blindness.

This was a realistic game, after all, so being blinded meant that you really couldn't see anything, which meant you were at the mercy of others. The practicality of this skill was very strong, making many thief-class players envious.

Although Yan Xiao Zhu had blinded one person, because of this person's position blocking her, she hadn't been able to rush out of the encirclement in time and was hit squarely by the area-of-effect spell that the mage had just cast. This also showed how skilled and precise the coordination of the players in Wushi Zhi Jian's small team was. The circle they formed was just the right size for the area-of-effect spell. And the spell that the mage cast didn't deviate even slightly, burning Yan Xiao Zhu in the center, while the others brushed past the flames without taking any damage.

However, Yan Xiao Zhu wouldn't be instantly killed by one spell. Taking advantage of the fact that the person in front of her couldn't see, she deftly went around him. Then she heard the sound of wind behind her, and an arrow from the archer was already chasing after her. Yan Xiao Zhu wasn't Gu Fei; she didn't have the ability to distinguish sounds, nor did she have such a fast reaction. Hearing the sound, she instinctively wanted to dodge, but she still couldn't dodge it completely. The arrow hit her shoulder squarely, causing her body to stagger, which showed how strong the damage was.

At this time, Wushi Zhi Jian had temporarily ignored Jian Gui and was preparing to take down Yan Xiao Zhu. Jian Gui had no choice but to take action. He used Mist Shadow Assault to rush over. No matter how powerful a player was, there was currently no way to counter this move. One person was instantly killed, and Jian Gui directly broke into Wushi Zhi Jian's circle and fiercely pounced towards Wushi Zhi Jian.

This tactic of relieving the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao forced the opponent to give up Yan Xiao Zhu and turn back to kill Jian Gui. Jian Gui had long known that once he entered the circle, it wouldn't be easy to get out. As expected, the opponent quickly formed an effective small encirclement. Wushi Zhi Jian personally came up to attack. Everyone reminded him to be careful. Wushi Zhi Jian smiled coolly, “The skill you just used must have a cooldown, right, Brother Jian Gui?” The boss's posing habit came up again.

Jian Gui hadn't been training in vain during this time. Even when fighting against many opponents, he was still performing well. However, there were too many people surrounding him, so he couldn't dodge all the attacks. He had to avoid the most important ones and try to delay time and find an opportunity to break out of the encirclement! Jian Gui wasn't the kind of person who gave up easily when he encountered danger.

Seeing that Jian Gui was surrounded, Yan Xiao Zhu hurriedly turned back to save him. Wushi Zhi Jian casually pointed to a player to respond. Yan Xiao Zhu's ranking was high, but other than Blindness, she didn't have much else. Although her equipment was good, the masters in Zongheng Sihai weren't much worse. Both of them used the same player routines in their PK techniques and were equally matched. Once they started fighting, it would take some time to determine the winner.

Wushi Zhi Jian's team had tight coordination, so there were no gaps to break out of. Jian Gui carefully dodged the attacks and persevered. He persevered until Mist Shadow Assault's cooldown ended! Wushi Zhi Jian was right in front of him, and he could give him a fatal blow. Jian Gui silently calculated.

But Wushi Zhi Jian's posing was just for show; he wasn't stupid. After standing out for less than a minute, he immediately retreated and shouted at the guy who was fighting Yan Xiao Zhu, “Come, let me replace you.”

Seeing that his plans wouldn't succeed, Jian Gui could only sigh inwardly. Fighting against many opponents, encountering such masters, his strength was still not enough!

Just as he was feeling helpless, Gu Fei's voice rang in his ears, filled with genuine anxiety, “Jian Gui, leave me a few!!!”

Wushi Zhi Jian had just jumped out of the crowd to fight Yan Xiao Zhu one-on-one. Hearing this voice, he looked back and saw Gu Fei killing his way over from the fleeing crowd. Wushi Zhi Jian couldn't help but shudder and very cleverly returned to the team. This time, he didn't dare to pose anymore and hurriedly commanded, “Quick, gather together and hold on!!!”

At the same time, he sent a message to Feng Xing, “Damn it, why aren't you here yet!!! Qian Li Zui is here!!!!”

Feng Xing was also very depressed, “Can we compare to his speed?”

“Hurry!” Wushi Zhi Jian was anxious, very anxious.

Gu Fei had already rolled up his sleeves and was rushing over with his sword, asking, “Is that all there is?”

The people surrounding Jian Gui had now retreated to surround Wushi Zhi Jian. Jian Gui wiped his sweat and said, “For normal people, that's already enough.”

“Hehe.” Gu Fei smiled and took a step forward. Wushi Zhi Jian's team couldn't help but take a step back. Gu Fei took out a banana, peeled it, and ate it. Wushi Zhi Jian and the others suspected that this was some kind of ultimate move and stared at Gu Fei very vigilantly.

Yan Xiao Zhu was anxious and ran over angrily, “Hurry up and attack. Why are you eating a banana?”

“Replenishing mana!” Gu Fei said.

Everyone was dizzy, and Wushi Zhi Jian and the others were even more on the verge of collapse. They were too nervous and had forgotten that eating a banana was such a simple way to replenish mana. In fact, wasn't Yan Xiao Zhu the same? She also thought that eating a banana was very uncoordinated with the current situation, simply because Gu Fei was eating this banana too arrogantly.