Even though Qianli Wuya was extremely reluctant to comply, there was nothing he could do once Hun Duan Shifang's order came down. He had no choice but to pull every member of the guild out of Frost Jade Forest. And it wasn't just Frost Jade Forest — Miracle Guild members throughout the entirety of the Black Dragon Empire began making preparations to withdraw.
Miracle Guild's sudden retreat sent shockwaves through the entire Black Dragon Empire.
"What's going on?"
"Miracle Guild pulled out?"
"No way — Miracle Guild is a quasi-Tier-One guild, and they just let
The players of the Black Dragon Empire were stunned by Miracle Guild's abrupt withdrawal, completely unable to understand what had happened that could make Miracle Guild give up on dealing with Zero Wing. After all, the two sides had only fought a battle involving a few thousand people. For guilds of their caliber, that probably didn't even count as a warm-up.
What made it all the more bewildering was that Miracle Guild had previously put on such a grand show of force and acted as though they were determined to annihilate Zero Wing. The sudden reversal made it seem as if all that earlier posturing had been nothing but theater.
"Miracle Guild is such a letdown! They retreat just like that? I thought they were supposed to be something special — turns out they're nothing more than overrated!"
"Zero Wing is incredible! Even Miracle Guild can't do anything against them!"
Opinions among the Black Dragon Empire's players were divided. Some believed Miracle Guild didn't deserve its quasi-Tier-One title, since they couldn't even deal with a mere Zero Wing. But quite a few others figured it was because Zero Wing was simply that powerful, which forced Miracle Guild to back down.
"The cowardly Hun Duan Shifang! He gave up before the fight even started — and after I fed him all that intelligence!" Jiulong Huang slammed his fist on the table and roared at the message he'd received.
He had originally hoped to borrow Miracle Guild's hand to deliver a devastating blow to Zero Wing, but he never expected Miracle Guild to be so decisive — letting go the moment they said they would.
Meanwhile, at a high-end restaurant in
"Uncle Yuan, look — Hun Duan Shifang has already gone to the
She had studied Hun Duan Shifang's profile before and knew he was an absolute ruthlessly determined man — the kind who never gave up on his objectives. Yet now he had abandoned his campaign against Zero Wing just like that. It was almost unthinkable.
"Giving up is actually reasonable enough,"
"That's true. But Zero Wing really is something — they always seem to have some surprise up their sleeve. I thought they were doomed this time, yet they pulled out a trump card like that. No wonder they dared to compete with the major powers for resources in the Beastman Empire," Ziqiong nodded.
In the Divine Realm, strength was ultimately what mattered. Everything came down to power.
Zero Wing's earlier provocation of Miracle Guild wasn't a problem in itself, so long as they could withstand Miracle Guild's wrath. If they couldn't bear it, they'd be destroyed. If they could, they'd survive. It really was that simple. The other major superpowers weren't going to mock Miracle Guild for being weak just because they couldn't handle a guild that was merely on par with a Tier-One guild — they would simply enjoy watching Miracle Guild's misfortune at having stumbled into a far tougher opponent than expected.
"However, Zero Wing shouldn't celebrate too soon," Yuan Tiexin continued in a measured tone. "They'd only just gained a bit of footing, and they've already offended Miracle Guild this badly. The road ahead is still long, and in the future, Miracle Guild will almost certainly seize any opportunity that comes along. Going all out to crush Zero Wing isn't out of the question."
The situation in the Beastman Empire wasn't so simple either. Miracle Guild had been fighting for face, so they could afford to walk away. But the other superpowers in the Beastman Empire were fighting for the resources their guilds needed to grow in the future. When it came down to that, they might very well fight to the bitter end — not something that would be settled as easily as this. Now that Zero Wing had revealed its trump cards, the situation going forward would be considerably more disadvantageous.
As Yuan Tiexin and Ziqiong discussed these matters, the various major superpowers were also taken aback by Zero Wing's performance. They had never expected a guild with no significant backing to possess such depth of strength. In secret, they all dispatched people to frantically investigate Zero Wing, trying to get to the bottom of the Basic Combat Demon
This battle had made something crystal clear to every major power: while guild experts might be important, equipment and items in the Divine Realm mattered just as much. Zero Wing's ability to weather Miracle Guild's offensive was the perfect proof of that.
As for the other guilds in the Black Dragon Empire, after Zero Wing wiped out three thousand members of the Eternal Necromancers, every last one of them had been living in fear. They had long since vacated Frost Jade Forest at the first opportunity, and once Miracle Guild withdrew, guilds from other regions began reaching out to Zero Wing with gestures of goodwill.
After all, if even a quasi-Tier-One powerhouse like Miracle Guild couldn't do anything to Zero Wing, what could they possibly hope to accomplish?
With the battle in Frost Jade Forest, Zero Wing had proven its strength to everyone in the Black Dragon Empire. While it might not rival a true quasi-Tier-One guild, it had demonstrated the backbone to stand up to one — a far cry from other Tier-One guilds.
In the minds of the Black Dragon Empire's players, Zero Wing had now become the second most prominent guild after the Dragon and Phoenix Pavilion.
More precisely, it was a quasi-Tier-One guild — one that simply needed enough time to develop and deepen its foundations.
The various large guilds across the Black Dragon Empire that had previously provoked or gloated over Zero Wing were now wracked with anxiety. Those that had openly offended Zero Wing were particularly worried that Zero Wing might quietly move against them — clearing them out of the Black Dragon Empire entirely wasn't impossible, it would just require some time and a bit of guild resources.
"Guild Leader, over a dozen major guilds have reached out to us to express goodwill. Each one is willing to offer Mana Crystals and rare materials as compensation. Shall we meet with them?" Bai Qingxue couldn't help but ask
Miracle Guild's sudden withdrawal had barely had time to sink in before a flood of guilds came bearing olive branches — even offering reparations. The turn of events had far exceeded her expectations.