Chapter 108: Peak Combat Power Is Indeed Very Strong (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

[Challenger Notification (All Channels): Global Mission "Heavenly Fire Descent" triggered.]

Heavenly Fire Descent (Emperor Tomb Mountain Range Scene - Global Mission)

Mission Introduction: Eliminate the descended Heavenly Fire Clan and retrieve the energy cores stored within Heavenly Fire City.

Mission Rewards: Players receive a 20% increase in hunting feedback rewards for killing Heavenly Fire Clan warriors; kills count toward campaign contribution, with final rewards distributed based on campaign contribution rankings.

Guidance Note: Campaign contributions are divided into damage output, damage taken, buff support, etc.; statistics update in real-time based on battle conditions, and contributions cannot be farmed through methods like intentionally taking damage.

The sudden global mission captured the attention of all players.

Players still in the Colorful Mist Coast region immediately turned back toward Emperor Tomb Village.

This included many exploration-focused players.

Even exploration-focused players understood that their own strength was the foundation for venturing outward; a certain senior had proven through tragic experience that poetry and distant lands sought without sufficient strength would inevitably meet with roadside sanctions.

The rewards for this mission were also extremely generous.

Besides the extra 20% hunting feedback, players could also earn contribution rewards similar to those from Domain Node Purification missions.

More importantly, the reward distribution model had been modified this time.

Support-type players could now earn contributions through their auxiliary roles in combat and receive ranking rewards.

In an instant, Emperor Tomb Village became overcrowded.

Various voices flooded the local area voice channel:

"Seven-person squad looking for solo players; need a Gargoyle. Join and we depart immediately, no waiting."

"Any team need a Fire Mage? I've unlocked two Star Vein slots; my damage output is ferocious."

"Looking for a brother following the Monster Stream, preferably one willing to serve as a mount. Our squad will cover all potion costs consumed during battle. If interested, apply to join directly; we're just waiting for you."

"Need one user of the Flowing Shadow Clone Technique for a fifteen-person solo squad; efficient departure imminent."

Solo squads, lone wolves, guild teams... masses of players gathered in Emperor Tomb Village before advancing toward the Ancient Battlefield.

At the far end of the Ancient Battlefield region, a city constructed entirely of flame had appeared.

To the north of the city, the Black Black Tide raged, engaged in a fierce slaughter against countless flame giants.

The flame giants in battle appeared high-spirited, forming battle arrays that pressed the Black Black Tide continuously northward, seemingly holding an overwhelming advantage.

But what Qi Sheng saw was a deeper shift in the battle situation.

Whenever a flame giant fell in combat, it was covered by surging black mist and then devoured, transforming into energy that strengthened the Black Black Tide.

Conversely, when Black Black Tide evils died, they merged back into the black mist, requiring only minimal energy to recondense into new Black Black Tide evils.

This seemingly one-sided war was essentially delivering tonics to the Black Black Tide.

If the war continued this way, he estimated the Earth-Nian Evil Spirit manipulating the Black Black Tide from behind the scenes would laugh out loud.

Naturally, he would not let the Black Black Tide monopolize such benefits.

As the player legion approached the southern gate of Flame City, a large number of flame giants immediately sallied forth to meet them.

The average hunting level of Heavenly Fire Clan warriors was around level 43; in initial engagements, the players' situation was no better than the Black Black Tide's, presenting a one-sided disadvantage.

But players had long grown accustomed to such disadvantages.

They even felt the pressure exerted by the flame giants was far less intense than that of the Black Black Tide or the Insect Black Tide.

Meanwhile, loot information updated by show-off players in the voice channel made other players green with envy.

Unlike the Insect Black Tide and Black Black Tide, Heavenly Fire warriors inevitably dropped two materials upon death, namely:

[Heavenly Fire Rune Essence]:

Item Description: Rune marks inscribed on the bodies of Heavenly Fire Clan warriors since childhood; essence generated after refining and compressing these marks, which can be sacrificed to Di Zhao in exchange for sacrificial power rewards.

[Heavenly Fire Demon Pattern]:

Item Description: Spiritual rune trajectories carved onto Heavenly Fire Clan warriors; key components connecting Heavenly Fire runes, which can be sacrificed to Di Zhao in exchange for sacrificial power rewards.

The value of these two guaranteed drop materials was higher than the sacrificial power feedback gained from killing a Heavenly Fire Clan warrior and refining their flesh and blood energy.

In other words, killing a Heavenly Fire warrior of equal level yielded far greater returns than killing an Insect Clan warrior or a Black Black Tide evil.

Ever since the Colorful Mist Coast front opened, the player forums had dubbed the Insect Black Tide and Black Black Tide "poor man's monsters."

Monsters in the Colorful Mist Coast region at least dropped some materials upon death, whereas materials dropped by Insect Clan warriors were generally low-priced; even more outrageously, Black Black Tide evils dropped nothing at all, reaching the height of stinginess.

The appearance of Heavenly Fire warriors showed players what a "wealthy monster" truly was.

Not only did they guarantee two material drops, but some Heavenly Fire warriors even dropped flame weapons; coupled with the 20% extra yield and contribution rewards, Heavenly Fire warriors appeared to players as walking treasures.

At this moment, in the regional voice channel:

"So satisfying! Killing one yields rewards equivalent to forty evils. Brothers, kill quickly!"

"Which bastard snatched the materials? How can you be so unethical? I'll f*** your xxx."

"Brothers, attention: unclean things are stealing dropped materials on the battlefield. If you see them, kill them outright."

"Brothers, let me explain; I forgot to turn off auto-loot Cultivation Mode just now. Look, my hand is involuntarily grabbing the materials dropped on the ground; I can't control it... I'm turning it off now, stop hitting me."

Since materials dropped directly, players needed to pick them up manually to acquire them.

This led some players to fish in troubled waters, suddenly striking to grab a share after others had finished fierce battles.

The fate of such players was often miserable; under siege by other players, they were sent to the black room to sulk for an hour, completely cutting them off from subsequent rewards.

Half an hour later.

The Insect Black Tide army arrived, launching an attack from the west side of Flame City.

The war transformed into a three-way coalition attacking the Heavenly Fire Clan, with all parties sharing the same objective: the energy cores stored within Flame City.

At this moment, in the center of Flame City.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King transformed into a flame giant dozens of meters tall, gazing at the combat situations in three directions, a smile gradually appearing on his Iron Face.

When first besieged by the three factions, he had felt a slight tension.

But soon that tension turned to joy; he realized that even combined, these three forces were no match for the Heavenly Fire Clan warriors under his command.

Fighting simultaneously on three fronts, the Heavenly Fire Clan still held an absolute advantage.

The only thing giving him a headache was that the forces attacking from the north and west were incredibly numerous, seemingly endless to kill.

In contrast, the force attacking from the south possessed higher individual strength but was negligible in numbers.

After scanning the battle developments in all three directions again, the Heavenly Fire Dharma King decided to accelerate the campaign's progress, then suddenly raised the giant flame sword in his hand.

Immediately, the priests within the city raised their hands in unison, chanting ancient spells to gather free-floating fire element energy from heaven and earth; instantly, a fiery red hue appeared above the city.

It resembled the faint glow of a distant bonfire, swaying gently under the illumination of the Evil Moon.

But in an instant, this red light began to expand, as if yanked by an invisible hand, rapidly growing into a massive flame array, like the eyes of the Flame God suddenly opening to gaze down upon the earth, its area continuing to expand.

A huge swirling vortex quickly formed at the center of the flame array, radiating scorching heat and dazzling brilliance.

As the flame vortex accelerated its rotation, the surrounding air seemed to ignite, forming rings of high-temperature heat waves diffusing outward.

Just then, flaming meteors broke free from the constraints of the flame array, tearing across the sky, trailing tails of fire as they crashed down upon the earth.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The battlefield instantly turned into a sea of fire; upon impact, the flaming meteors exploded immediately, scattering countless tiny sparks like brilliant fireworks, illuminating the ground as bright as day, causing massive numbers of Black Black Tide evils, players, and Insect Clan warriors to perish under the ultra-wide-area elemental attack.

Until the flame array vanished, the area outside Flame City had turned into scorched earth.

The battle ended in an unexpected manner.

All participating players were sent to the black room and began discussing the campaign on the forums.

But the players all knew clearly that this battle had only just begun; it was far from over.

Whether they, the players, the Black Black Tide evils, or the Insect Clan warriors, all would regroup and throw themselves back into the battlefield.

To quote a certain player on the forums: "This is nothing; for a single Yuntian Domain Node, we fought at least dozens of times. We've only charged Flame City once; this doesn't even count as a warm-up."

One hour later.

Resurrection cooldowns ended; large numbers of players gathered in Emperor Tomb Village and marched toward Flame City once more.

At this time, the regrouped Insect Black Tide and Black Black Tide had already joined the battle twenty minutes ahead of the players.

The great war reignited.

In the statistical data visible to Qi Sheng's eyes, real-time sacrificial power yields surged accordingly.

Inside Flame City.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King wore a grave expression; the priest corps had joined forces in a single strike to completely crush the three attacking forces, achieving instant victory in the war.

His original intention had been to regroup his clan's forces and launch wars of plunder outward.

He never expected the three defeated forces to attack again so soon.

This left him deeply puzzled.

Logically, given their own strength, the three attacking forces should have gained some understanding through combat contact; it could be said their combat power completely overwhelmed these three factions.

Yet he could not understand why these three forces still dared to invade.

Without dwelling on this question, he immediately organized the Heavenly Fire warriors to sally forth from the city to engage.

He then issued orders for the priests within the city to absorb free-floating spiritual particles from the air to recover their status, preparing to activate the next round of the Heavenly Fire Great Array.

During the course of the war, clansmen continuously perished.

But the Heavenly Fire Dharma King remained expressionless throughout.

Because he had long made psychological preparations; from the moment he chose war, he knew his clansmen would inevitably perish continuously throughout the war process.

Resources in the Heavenly Fire World were gradually dwindling; he had laid out plans for cross-world war a hundred years in advance, continuously optimizing population structure and pursuing a path of elite development.

Those who crossed worlds following him were all exceptionally outstanding warriors.

He believed that relying on the Heavenly Fire Clan's combat power, they would easily crush the three attacking factions.

Just as the Heavenly Fire Dharma King had anticipated, even while facing enemies on three sides, the Heavenly Fire Clan always maintained an absolute advantage in the war.

But there was one point that left him deeply puzzled.

Within the dense insect swarm to the west, there was an additional type of combat unit branded with flame spirit patterns on their bodies.

These newly appeared combat units possessed extremely high fire resistance; the clansmen could no longer easily wipe out swathes of them with a casual strike as they had before.

While feeling surprised, he did not pay excessive attention to this detail.

He only needed to know that his side held an absolute advantage in the war; once the Sacrifice Clan prepared the Great Heavenly Fire Formation, they could clear the field again and annihilate all three attacking factions.

Time passed. Receiving feedback from the Sacrifice Clan, the Heavenly Fire Dharma King transformed into a flame giant dozens of meters tall and raised his sword toward the firmament.

Instantly, the power of sacrifice converged from all directions, flying from the sword tip into the sky.

An ultra-large-scale Heavenly Fire Formation materialized overhead, initiating a new round of raining fire from the heavens; the earth was once again swept and shrouded by dense flames.

When the Great Heavenly Fire Formation dissipated, the Heavenly Fire Dharma King dispersed his Fire Demon body and hovered high in the sky to scan the battlefield.

As far as his gaze reached, the combat units of the three factions had all vanished.

The corners of the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's mouth curled upward, his expression unable to hide his pride.

Three days later.

The confidence in the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's eyes had vanished completely.

They had fought bitterly for three days and three nights.

He could no longer remember how many times the three local factions had swept over.

The battle had raged for three days; nearly one-fifth of the clansmen had died in the war, yet there was not the slightest sign of the conflict stopping.

It seemed as though the reinforcements of these three factions were endless.

Every time they were beaten back, they could quickly regroup new combat units and throw them back into the battlefield.

Gazing at the waning moon hanging high on the horizon, a trace of confusion surfaced in the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

"The peak combat power of this world is indeed formidable... but I will not lose; this is only the beginning."

Just then, the earth trembled.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King's gaze immediately swept toward the direction where the disturbance originated.

Under the glow of the Evil Moon, the ground shook continuously, as if countless lives were stirring beneath the earth.

Suddenly, the pitch-black thin mist was pierced; tens of thousands of insect clan warriors surged forth like a black Black Tide, rapidly covering the entire plain. These insect warriors had undergone obvious changes in form compared to their first encounter: some were clad in heavy carapaces, some wielded sharp mouthparts, and interspersed among them were some insect types of massive size, converging into an impenetrable net as they advanced.

Most importantly, the insect clan warriors charging at the very front were all branded with flame spirit patterns on their bodies.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King was very familiar with this spirit pattern.

All insect clan warriors possessing this spirit pattern had extremely strong resistance to fire elements.

From the initial few scattered insect warriors possessing it, to now, as far as the eye could see, the majority of the insect warriors were bolstered by flame spirit patterns.

This caused a conjecture to rise in the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's heart, but he quickly suppressed this thought, believing he was merely indulging in wild fantasies; how could such a terrifying racial innate ability possibly exist in this world?

Gazing at the insect Black Tide, a trace of killing intent emerged in the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's weary eyes, and he immediately issued combat orders.

The clansmen, already prepared for battle, rushed out of the city upon receiving the command to confront the approaching insect Black Tide army.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King withdrew his gaze, then looked toward another direction.

At the end of his line of sight, a black Black Tide slowly unfolded, as if ink had been splashed by an invisible hand, condensing into a vast, boundless sea of darkness that swept over with extreme clamor; within the darkness, countless ferocious monsters were born and formed, only to dissolve back into the black mist moments later.

A new round of combat orders was issued, and the Heavenly Fire warriors stationed at the North Gate direction rushed out of the city to prepare for battle.

The Heavenly Fire Dharma King's gaze finally turned to the south of Flame City.

His focus settled on the faction currently attacking.

This was the faction he found most incomprehensible.

Compared to the surface-level ferocity and savagery of the other two factions, as well as their battle modes that seemed to blot out the sun and sky, this faction attacking from the south behaved most strangely.

Along the way, they chatted and laughed, arms around each other's shoulders; some even kept jumping several meters high as they advanced, seemingly greatly enjoying the weightlessness brought by the leaps.

Scanning with his gaze, apart from a small portion organizing themselves into groups, the overall battle formation structure of the faction was incredibly loose.

The feeling he got was that this faction seemed to have never considered that war would bring death; to them, this was merely a game.

Besides that, this faction was also the weakest of the three.

It was evident that the three factions were not in an alliance.

When launching an attack on Flame City, he discovered that if the three factions encountered each other after spreading their battle lines, they would not hesitate to strike the other faction with lethal intent, showing that all three factions were hostile toward one another.

This was also the strangest part.

Their comprehensive strength was the weakest, and in terms of numbers, they were completely suppressed by the insect Black Tide and the black Black Tide.

He could not understand how this faction had managed to survive on this land without being swallowed by the other two extremely evil factions.

He had no way to answer this question.

However, while observing the battle situation, he did discover an extremely bizarre scene.

The situation at the time was that the Sacrifice Clan had not yet finished preparing to activate the Great Heavenly Fire Formation, and the clansmen fighting on all three fronts appeared abnormally exhausted, so he had issued the order to enter the city.

He planned to lure these three factions into the city and fight them using Flame City's defense system.

As a result, after these three factions met inside the city, they did not hesitate to fight fiercely, consuming each other's strength, which was a pleasant surprise beyond the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's expectations.

But during this process, it was clearly observable that the Black Black Tide was more willing to engage the Insect Black Tide, and the Insect Black Tide was also more willing to engage the Black Black Tide.

As for the other mysterious faction, they killed whoever they saw.

This appeared very strange.

The three factions were mutual enemies, yet two of them seemed to extremely detest the faction attacking from the south, unwilling to have too much entanglement with them.

Logically speaking, the faction attacking from the south should be the weakest of the three.

The pressure they brought was also the weakest among the three factions.

Yet, it was precisely this seemingly fragile faction that made the other two factions extremely wary.

Especially the Black Black Tide faction; they avoided them whenever possible, seeming completely unwilling to engage this faction.

This was a problem the Heavenly Fire Dharma King could not figure out.

The war had continued until now, and a strong sense of fatigue had arisen in his heart.

The peak-level combat power of this world was far stronger than he had imagined.

What was even more hateful was that these three factions could always dispatch endless reinforcements from other regions, making them impossible to kill off completely.

Now, he could only hope that the subsequent reinforcement forces would gradually weaken.

At that time, he would launch a counterattack, venting the anger accumulated over these days and bringing despair to these three factions.

As an invader, the Heavenly Fire Dharma King had never expected the opening situation to be so frustrating.

He even felt this was not the treatment an invading force should receive.

Compared to the soaring ambitions he had upon arrival, his self-esteem had been challenged on this land.

In his original conception, this was merely the first world war before the Heavenly Fire Clan swept across multiple worlds to become a terrifying calamity.

But since their descent, the war had always unfolded on this small patch of land, with reinforcements from the three factions attacking endlessly.

The first battle, which held significant meaning in his eyes, had stubbornly transformed from an invasion war into a city defense.

Throughout the entire process, they were defending against attacks from the three factions near Flame City, completely unable to take steps toward expansion and plunder.

But he believed that the suppressed anger would eventually be released.

The reinforcement forces of the three factions would eventually run out; they were destined to crawl at his feet, becoming stepping stones for him and his clansmen to plunder other worlds.

Perhaps in the future, when standing at the peak and looking back at the past, this would be a memory worth recalling.

Thinking of this, the Heavenly Fire Dharma King's mindset changed slightly, and a smile once again appeared on his Iron Face.

Ten thousand words, finished.

Additionally, recommending a friend's work:

My Girlfriend Died in the Past

Synopsis: "You say you have a girlfriend?"

"Yes."

"She is beautiful, has a great figure, her temperament is perfect, and her family is very wealthy? She doesn't require you to have a car or a house, and doesn't even ask for a betrothal gift?"

"That's right."

"Besides that, she also does your laundry and cooks for you, and even prepares foot-washing water for you?"

"It is exactly like that; I don't even know what merit from how many past lives earned me such good fortune."

"Then your luck is indeed quite good; I'm even a bit envious of you."

The doctor, while recording in the medical record, turned around and instructed the nurse:

"The condition has worsened again; remember to increase the dosage."

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(End of Chapter)