As Shi Feng's words trailed off, he turned his head toward the person who had spoken — Qi Guang.
Qi Guang was quite young and had only played virtual games for a short time. Divine Realm was essentially the first true virtual reality game he had ever experienced, yet his talent was the genuine article.
Although he had only recently joined Zero Wing, his combat skills were so exceptional that he had quickly risen through the ranks in the monthly tournaments and secured a spot directly in the guild's main raid team.
Among all the trainees in the Tower of Transcendence, Qi Guang showed the fastest progress.
It was no wonder that in his previous life, he had earned the title of Arc Flash Sword Emperor. Even though Qi Guang had not reached the Realm of Logic during his Tower training, he had stumbled into a state of Micro-Grasp by chance, becoming one of the few Micro-Grasp masters within Zero Wing.
"All right, then I'll leave it to you." Shi Feng looked at the fighting spirit blazing in Qi Guang's eyes and could see just how eager he was to test his own strength.
Qi Guang might only be a Micro-Grasp master — nothing remarkable among the super guilds — but the equipment he wore was the Level 60 elite-grade Demonman Set, painstakingly earned by Shi Feng's team through their grueling battle against the Demon Lord.
This set was the reward Qi Guang had received for achieving Micro-Grasp, or rather, only a Micro-Grasp master was qualified to wield it properly. A normal expert would have been wasting their time with it. That was precisely why Shi Feng had distributed the Level 60 Mithril-grade gear directly and stored the Gold-grade and Dark Gold-grade pieces in the guild vault instead.
The chest armor and leg pieces on Qi Guang were Level 60 Dark Gold-grade Demonman equipment, while the gloves, boots, helmet, and bracers were all Level 60 Gold-grade Demonman pieces. Although the Demonman Set had varying grades across its slots, it could still activate the six-piece set bonus.
This set was every bit as impressive as the Scorching Wind set Ke Le had obtained. The only difference was that Scorching Wind was a Level 70 set, giving it significantly higher base stats than the Level 60 Demonman Set. But in terms of set bonuses, the two were remarkably close — both were unquestionably among the finest sets currently available.
"Yes! I'll complete the mission, guaranteed!" The moment Shi Feng agreed, Qi Guang blurted out in excitement.
The second-tier female Priest standing nearby had long since been unable to endure this exchange. She rolled her eyes, looking at Shi Feng and the others as if they were a pack of lunatics.
The former chairman of a super guild — a legendary figure in his own right — and here they were treating him like a piece of trash mob, arguing over who got to deal with him.
"Sister Mu Yun..." The second-tier female Priest tugged on the hem of Mu Yun's robe, hoping for some reassurance, perhaps even hoping Mu Yun could talk these madmen out of it.
Mu Yun could only let out a sigh of understanding. After all, Zero Wing was a new guild — they had no idea about many of the upper echelon affairs in the gaming world, let alone something from over a decade ago. The name Xuanyuan Sansha and the terror it carried would be completely lost on them. Still, Shi Feng and his people had been invited here by her. Now that they had declared their intention to break through the encirclement, how could she possibly tell them to just try to stall for time?
"Vice Guild Master Mu Yun, the scheduled time is almost up. Shall we get moving?" Shi Feng glanced at the time and turned to ask Mu Yun.
"Shouldn't we discuss how we're going to break through first?" Mu Yun looked at him, somewhat perplexed.
This supply run for the Blood Source Potions included not only Shi Feng and his group but also over nine hundred of Hundred Flowers Palace's own experts. She believed that Shi Feng and the others were strong — probably top-tier among average experts — but they were still a far cry from the top players of the super guilds.
If they didn't lay out a proper strategy first, the entire group would likely be reduced to cinders by the ranged attackers on both sides before they even reached the checkpoint.
Moreover, the narrow mountain road was a perfect defensive position. Even a force of just over ten thousand could hold off tens of thousands for a considerable time, let alone their group of barely a thousand.
"You're right — we should go over the plan." Shi Feng nodded, suddenly reminded.
The members of Hundred Flowers Palace stared at him in speechless disbelief. The high-ranking officials of Zero Wing didn't even have this basic common sense, yet they had the audacity to boast about breaking through Star Ring's blockade.
"All right, here's what I'm thinking," Shi Feng said after a moment's consideration. "We of Zero Wing will serve as the vanguard. Once we tear open a gap, Star Ring will have no choice but to concentrate all their firepower on us. The moment that happens, you move in immediately behind us. Don't stop to fight along the way — we're too few in number for a sustained engagement."
Silence.
Every member of Hundred Flowers Palace stood with their mouths hanging open.
If Mu Yun hadn't been standing right there, they would have cursed outright.