While Shi Feng was recovering in deep slumber, White Mist Gorge had become an absolute forbidden zone for players.
White Mist Gorge was a special area where Return Town scrolls couldn't be used.
After Anubis's Gatekeeper emerged from the Land of Falling Stars, it killed players on sight. Countless players farming for the War Fire set were slaughtered.
The major guilds had certainly gathered forces to deal with Anubis's Gatekeeper. But a Level 35 Great Lord was no joke. After it unleashed just a few shots of its World-Destroying Spear, every major guild in White River City realized its mistake and retreated, never setting foot in White Mist Gorge again.
Because a Great Lord and the High Lords they had been conquering were simply not creatures of the same tier.
High Lords had plenty of area-of-effect skills that caused players trouble, but they didn't use them often, giving people some breathing room. But a Great Lord?
Without a word it launched massive destructive magic—over and over again, nothing but massive destructive magic after massive destructive magic. Even tens of thousands of elite players wouldn't last.
Fortunately, Anubis's Gatekeeper wouldn't leave White Mist Gorge; it only roamed within it.
And just like that, White Mist Gorge became a forbidden zone for players—no longer a gold mine. Those who had been farming for the War Fire set all gave up. White Mist Gorge was already dangerous enough, and now with Anubis's Gatekeeper patrolling the area, encountering it meant certain death. On top of that, the drop rate for the War Fire set was absurdly low. Many had already been on the verge of quitting, and the arrival of Anubis's Gatekeeper only solidified their resolve.
However, the situation in White Mist Gorge was a minor matter, because Divine Realm had undergone its second system update. The difficulty of raising city reputation had been slightly reduced, so all the major guilds began pushing for city reputation. At the same time, they quietly started stockpiling gold coins—once their reputation was sufficient, they would go all out to purchase city land plots, preparing for future development.
Invisibly, the major guilds of Divine Realm had begun competing in secret, all scrambling for ways to earn gold.
The methods for earning gold came down to a few: first, monster drops; second, quest rewards; third, player trading; and fourth, selling junk items to NPCs.
The mainstream ways for guilds were monster drops and quest rewards. But quest rewards for guilds without a guild headquarters were far too meager. Monster drops became the only fast way to earn money, so resource-rich areas became battlegrounds for the major guilds. Freelance players never stood a chance of farming gold in those zones.
But at this critical juncture, something happened that made every player in White River City drop their jaws. Zero Wing and Yi Xiao Qing Cheng—the two powerhouse guilds of White River City—had gone to full-scale war. Both had declared through the system that the opposing guild was a hostile guild, and any encounter on the open field was guaranteed to ignite a battle. Since the two guilds were hostile, killing members of the opposing guild wouldn't flag anyone with a red name, so there was no hesitation in fighting.
While every other guild was quietly developing, wishing they could devote all their manpower to farming gold, these two eccentric guilds—Zero Wing and Yi Xiao Qing Cheng—suddenly decided to fight to the bitter end.
Naturally, every other guild in White River City was thrilled. They all sat back to watch the tigers fight, eager to reap the benefits of the fisherman's profit, wishing both guilds would destroy each other.
After all, an all-out war of this magnitude would have an enormous impact on both sides.
On the very first day of the full-scale war between Zero Wing and Yi Xiao Qing Cheng, the number of members from both sides who died in the field exceeded one thousand…
These people were fighting for their guilds, and a reward system was in place. Whenever a player killed a member of the hostile guild, the system automatically recorded the kill. Based on the recorded count—and depending on the rank of the enemy killed—the rewards varied. The higher the rank of the opponent, or the more of your own guild's members they had slain, the greater the reward. Guild points would then be distributed to guild members, which they could use to exchange for items from the guild warehouse.
This was ultimately a contest of both sides' resources and financial power, testing who could hold out the longest.
In a bar in White River City, nearly a hundred players sat drinking and chatting, laughing about their daily hauls and discussing the expert rankings on the Celestial Secrets Pavilion.
The Divine Realm bar had long since become the place where freelance players gathered to swap gossip and exchange information.
"Did you guys hear why Zero Wing and Yi Xiao Qing Cheng, those two powerhouse guilds in White River City, suddenly went to full-scale war?" a Level-20 young Ranger said mysteriously to the Priest girl beside him, nursing a mug of beer.
"Oh? Do you actually know?" The Priest girl blinked, clearly skeptical.
"Of course—one of my buddies is an Elite member of Yi Xiao Qing Cheng. He even personally witnessed the reason behind the two guilds' all-out war." The young Ranger looked quite pleased with himself. "When I first heard my buddy tell me about it, I was stunned."
"Go on, tell me!" the Priest girl urged, curiosity winning out.
The young Ranger's voice wasn't exactly quiet, and every player in the bar could hear him. Ears perked up all around.
Zero Wing and Yi Xiao Qing Cheng were the dominant powers in White River City. A war between them would have a massive impact on the city, so naturally everyone was dying to know why the two guilds had declared all-out war.
The young Ranger said smugly, "I'll tell you—it was because people from Yi Xiao Qing Cheng and Zero Wing got into a conflict in White Mist Gorge. In the end, Black Flame wiped out Yi Xiao Qing Cheng's hundred-man squad without leaving a single survivor. Yi Xiao Qing Cheng's higher-ups were furious, so they secretly moved to ambush Zero Wing's guild master, Black Flame—they sent a full two thousand elite players."
"Yi Xiao Qing Cheng even hired an incredibly powerful expert. If it hadn't been for Anubis's Gatekeeper showing up, Black Flame might have been taken out. Having the guild master hunted down like that was an extraordinary humiliation for Zero Wing—they naturally weren't going to let it slide. That's why they declared full-scale war on Yi Xiao Qing Cheng."
The players in the bar listened and found the story convincing.
A guild's reputation was something that could never be compromised, and the enmity between the two guilds was nothing new. It was clear that this ambush had finally pushed them past their breaking point.
"I wonder which guild will win this all-out war?"
"I'd say Yi Xiao Qing Cheng. They've got Maple City under their belt, backed by enormous financial resources. Haven't you seen how generous Yi Xiao Qing Cheng's benefits are? The Credit Points their elite members receive each month is enough to make your mouth water. How could Zero Wing possibly compare?"
"It's gotta be Zero Wing, right? This is White River City, after all. Zero Wing has a guild headquarters, and they're packed with top-tier experts. You have no idea how good the benefits are at the guild hall. The most popular perk is the lounge—renting one accumulates a ton of double experience. And Zero Wing's guild warehouse makes every other guild in White River City drool. There's plenty of Level 25 equipment in there. Half the players who jumped ship to Yi Xiao Qing Cheng are kicking themselves for not staying at Zero Wing."
For a time, the entire bar broke into animated debate over which guild would come out on top.
However, in one corner of the bar, a six-person squad exchanged dismissive smiles.
"So this Black Flame isn't all that impressive, is he. Captain, do we really need to go looking for him?" a Level-26 Swordsman remarked with a curl of his lip.
"We do. We can only find out if he's worthy once we test him." (To be continued…)