Chapter 243: When Armies Exceed a Thousand, There Is No Edge

【Starting matchmaker for opponent】

【.】

On the plain, Chu Danqing descended with Da Bao; not far off stood a middle-aged man in a mage’s robe, face expressionless.

He opened with a shield and blink to create distance, then activated his gear skill to erect a barrier.

Immediately, an elemental array materialized, and vast quantities of elements coalesced into an elemental spirit legion.

“A high-agility, high-perception elemental legion build,” Chu Danqing said, surprised.

Since the Paradise promotes five-attribute growth, as long as base attributes advance in sync, secondary attribute specialization is fully possible.

High agility grants rapid neural response; high perception enables strong elemental communication—both bypassing spirit attribute entirely to enable large-scale elemental application.

The opponent’s casting speed was extremely fast; by the time Da Bao charged into the elemental spirit legion, the elemental summoner had already cast nearly twenty legion-buffing skills.

This wasn’t a mage stacking agility to become an assassin—this was using agility to boost reaction speed and thus casting speed.

Under such rapid casting, his own energy couldn’t keep up, so he used perception as a substitute, compensating through elemental communication.

Yue Lan Wu Ying’s path was somewhat similar, except he used communication to make elements fight up close.

“Elite builds with passive traits are indeed powerful—but quantity remains a problem,” the elemental summoner said after completing his round of buffs, his tone casual.

To him, the formation of the elemental spirit legion meant victory was assured.

Da Bao might be strong, but so what—he was still just one.

Most elemental spirits surged toward Chu Danqing; as a summoner himself, he knew summoners’ greatest weakness was the summoner himself.

So he summoned an elemental guard unit to protect himself at the last moment.

The opponent’s summons all came from skills, forming a complete elemental summoning skill set.

Completely opposite to Chu Danqing’s path.

Chu Danqing knew elite builds suffered from low numbers—but he had no such flaw.

As soon as he spoke, eighty-one Golden Strength Warriors emerged from the Eight Steeds Climbing Dragon Palanquin Talisman.

Like a towering city wall, they instantly blocked the incoming elemental spirit legion.

The elemental summoner’s expression didn’t change.

Elite builds with passive traits have one particularly troublesome advantage over legion builds: raw power.

His summons’ numbers and skill buffs couldn’t match theirs, but each individual’s strength far surpassed them.

If Da Bao dealt AoE damage instead of single-target, the elemental spirit legion wouldn’t stand a chance.

The Golden Strength Warriors encircled and advanced slowly.

Seeing this, the elemental summoner no longer held back.

Elemental mage squads, elemental knight battalions.

A complete elemental army descended—infantry, cavalry, archers, mages, priests, even siege engines.

At least five thousand troops.

“Ah?” Chu Danqing understood—he’d met a top-tier player grinding ranks.

The reason he hadn’t summoned outright from the start was the same as Chu Danqing’s: he’d been holding back.

Of course, this also proved the Paradise’s matchmaking pool had shifted.

Once you enter the top thousand in your region, you’re matched only with the elite of Rank 1.

When armies exceed a thousand, there’s no edge.

When armies exceed ten thousand, there’s no rim.

Chu Danqing couldn’t see the end—nor could he even spot the elemental summoner anymore.

Seeing this, Chu Danqing transformed the Eight Steeds Climbing Dragon Palanquin into its carriage form, mounted it, and activated the Five Elements Spirit Array; the dragon-horses pulled the carriage into a charge.

The eighty-one Golden Strength Warriors advanced like moving mountains, their aura crushing the ground into spiderweb cracks.

The Pure Yang Celestial Generals’ heavy shields pushed against the storm; when their surfaces clashed with the elemental knights’ ice-lance spears, frost crystals exploded in all directions, and their blades sliced through the elemental knights’ shield formation, releasing chaotic elemental currents amid clashing metal.

The Taiyin Mystic Woman atop the palanquin’s canopy billowed her robes, drawing moonlight into spells that rained down, piercing through elemental archers.

The dragon-horses neighed, shattering incoming elemental foes; wherever the palanquin passed, everything was crushed.

Throughout the entire advance, they tore open a massive gap.

Chu Danqing pulled out a sterile blood-drawing device; his HP dropped rapidly to 50%, all buffs maximized.

At this moment, the elemental army, already incapable of resisting Chu Danqing’s summons, became weaker than paper.

The elemental army’s numbers were vast, but Chu Danqing didn’t need to kill them all.

Just like the elemental summoner, the enemy couldn’t kill Da Bao—their goal was to kill Chu Danqing to execute a decapitation strike.

Chu Danqing didn’t need to wipe out the entire elemental army—only to kill the elemental summoner, and the rest would be easy.

With Bai Bao’s Perception x2, his perception efficiency was inferior to Da Bao’s, but his perception range was far greater.

He swiftly locked onto the elemental summoner’s position; under Chu Danqing’s command, the Pure Yang Celestial Generals carved a bloody path forward.

As for enemy attacks, they landed on the summons, causing limited damage.

First, due to Chu Danqing’s shields and buffs; second, their high base stats allowed them to absorb more damage.

The elemental summoner sensed the gap between them, assessed the situation, and realized his win rate had dropped to zero.

“Add me as a friend, let’s exchange insights,” the elemental summoner said as the Pure Yang Celestial General reached him, raising his greatsword.

His head flew off; Chu Danqing won.

【Victory! 502 consecutive wins achieved. Reward: Arena Points ×10, Rank upgraded to: 988】

Arena ended; Chu Danqing was teleported back and sent a friend request to the elemental summoner.

Simultaneously, a friend request appeared in his friend list.

Clearly, the opponent had sent one too.

Both accepted simultaneously.

【ElementalFertilizer1: Hello】

【SilentPoetry: Hello】

The two had perfect timing—each sent a greeting in sequence, effectively exchanging aliases.

Chu Danqing glanced at the opponent’s name, his expression slightly odd.

The alias was strange, but Chu Danqing understood.

Fertilizer boosts yield—abstract, yes, but vaguely related to legion builds.

【ElementalFertilizer1: If I hadn’t seen you in person, I’d think you were an assassin build】

The opponent opened with a jab—Chu Danqing’s alias had nothing to do with his actual build.

【SilentPoetry: Just misdirection. By the way, your—】

Chu Danqing replied, then shifted to the topic, asking about legion and elemental summoning knowledge.

The opponent first cautiously answered Chu Danqing’s questions, then inquired about Chu Danqing’s summon cultivation methods.

Clearly, both had never encountered such a powerful summoner before.

Chu Danqing had met summoners in the arena before, but none amounted to anything.

Chu Danqing needed an equal exchange partner, not a weaker one to teach.

Regardless of build, strength is fundamentally built on knowledge.

The stronger one is, the more profound their knowledge.

They traded words back and forth; Chu Danqing deduced the opponent’s base skills.

“His foundation isn’t standard Summoning Theory or Summoning Arts—it’s likely a specialization in Ancient Creature Summoning.”

“Elemental Summoning Theory and Elemental Summoning Arts probably have a third core skill: Elemental Dominion. His base skills are fewer than mine.”

“His path is clearly locked into the elemental legion build.” Chu Danqing had uncovered much of the opponent’s foundation.

The opponent could likely deduce Chu Danqing’s base skill profile from his knowledge.

“His level is probably lower than mine—no more than just reaching Proficiency, max Level 3.”

“He’s at least three times stronger than me in elemental and legion domains, but far weaker in everything else.”

“But he specializes in elements and legions—I can’t match him there.” Chu Danqing exchanged with him for about an hour, gaining immense insight.

The opponent gained equally—Chu Danqing’s skills were higher-ranked and more comprehensive, filling the opponent’s gaps.

Specializing in elemental builds means other areas are inevitably weakened.

For both, this was a major gain.

“Level up,” Da Bao said, tugging Chu Danqing’s sleeve once he sensed the conversation was winding down.

“What leveled up?” Chu Danqing didn’t react until he checked his panel: “Oh, your Tearing Claws and Bloodthirsty Pursuit leveled up.”

【Tearing Claws (Active) LV.18: After activation, attacks deal 18 additional Tearing Damage and inflict Bleeding status; consumes 18 Blood Rage per minute while active】

【Bloodthirsty Pursuit (Passive) LV.18: When damaging enemies with Bleeding status, gain life drain and add an extra 18 Bleeding Damage】

From Level 17 to 18—it surprised Chu Danqing.

“Combat intensity clearly accelerates your skill leveling,” Chu Danqing said, glancing at the bonus, feeling resigned.

One level only adds one damage point—now it’s falling behind the pace.

Fortunately, Da Bao’s world runs deep; raising his bloodline concentration should trigger further skill evolution.

“How do you feel?” Chu Danqing asked.

“Not, how, it,” Da Bao replied: “I think, too many, can’t beat.”

Da Bao increasingly sensed his flaws—his inability to close distance quickly, and lack of AoE attacks.

“Too many enemies? Everyone struggles with that,” Chu Danqing said. “That’s why you must keep fighting—to hone your instincts and intuition.”

The level increase of these two skills depended less on Dabao’s effort and more on accumulated experience formed by instinct and intuition.

What could a five-year-old understand?

“Alright, let’s play another round and check the enemy’s situation,” Chu Danqing said. “Last time was a mistake. When we face a close-combat opponent, you’ll understand your true strength.”

Dabao nodded; he naturally had no reason to doubt Chu Danqing’s words.

As for continuing communication with Element Fertilizer No. 1, the other had also gone to the arena.

Given the other’s strength, unless they were hiding a trump card like Chu Danqing, winning first place would be difficult.

(End of Chapter)