"Swoosh!"
A striking golden light flashed across Jiang Bai's body.
Immediately, a warm energy surged through him. He saw that his primary attribute—Agility—had increased by 5 points.
"Huh!?"
He paused in confusion, only to notice a new buff icon at the top right corner of his interface.
[Blessing]: Player's main attribute increased by 5 points for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Momo'.
"Xingchen!?"
Jiang Bai turned around abruptly and found, without knowing when she'd arrived, the soft and adorable girl was now standing seriously behind him.
Behind Xingchen Momo stood a squad of about thirty clerics.
Noticing Jiang Bai's gaze, Xingchen Momo lifted her chin proudly.
"Big brother, did you not team up with us earlier because you were afraid we'd slow you down?"
As she spoke, she waved her staff again, casting another buff.
[Fortitude]: Player's defense increased by 15 points for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Momo'.
"Hmph! I hate being underestimated! I'm the number one cleric in Server 33856, you know!"
She waved her staff once more.
[Tragedy]: Player's damage increased by 5% for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Momo'.
"So now, big brother, you're fighting side-by-side with the top cleric of 33856!"
"Games are only fun when played together!"
As her words fell, the thirty-man squad behind her simultaneously raised their staffs.
In an instant, golden light rained down on Jiang Bai. One buff sound after another echoed, and his buff bar quickly filled and started stacking onto a second row.
It didn't stop there. Members of the Xingchen Guild from other positions also began casting spells, granting Jiang Bai buffs from knights, warriors, assassins, and other classes.
[Mantra]: Grants player a shield equal to 10% of max HP. The shield blocks all damage — from player 'Xingchen Xiaoai'.
[Roar]: Increases player's max HP by 250 for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Zhutí'.
[Power Strike]: Increases attack power by 5% for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Craving'.
[Savage]: Increases crit rate by 3% for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Xiaobai'.
[King's Blessing]: Increases all attributes by 5% for 30 minutes — from player 'Xingchen Laotie'.
...
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Bai was covered in over a dozen different buffs, and his stats changed repeatedly as they stacked.
To be honest, Jiang Bai had never learned any buff skills. As a solo grinder, he rarely needed them. Now that he suddenly had so many, it took some getting used to.
At that moment, the Xingchen Guild's leader, Xingchen Zuo'an, approached with the rest of the guild. He shouted toward Jiang Bai.
"Brother, I've assigned Xingchen's elite cleric squad to you. Every one of them knows Holy Shield. Go ahead and fight to your heart's content!"
"Even though Xingchen only has around 3,000 members, every one of us will fight to the last bullet today. We'll never retreat until we avenge our ambush by those bastards!"
By all accounts, Xingchen Zuo'an had no reason to intervene—they didn't have a close relationship. If it was for justice, that would be a stretch. They had only briefly fought side-by-side against the boss earlier.
But Xingchen Zuo'an had his reasons.
The Xingchen Guild was currently in an awkward mid-tier position. Above them, the Cloud City and Xiaoyao Guilds were suppressing them hard, steadily eroding their strength. Now that the game had entered Chapter Two, guild competition was bound to intensify. If Xingchen didn't make a breakthrough, it would soon fade into obscurity, becoming just another half-dead guild.
Xingchen Zuo'an, being ambitious, refused to accept that. He knew how important Genesis was—his whole future was riding on Xingchen's success. So he was taking a gamble.
By leveraging the overwhelming hype of this PK event and betting everything on "Empty City Old Dream," if they won, Cloud City and Xiaoyao would be heavily weakened, and Xingchen's reputation would soar. Their future development would be smooth sailing. If they lost, Xingchen Zuo'an would accept it—after all, he had given it everything.
That's why he appeared here now—this was their best shot at a comeback.
"Brother, don't let me down…"
Xingchen Zuo'an looked at Jiang Bai with a deep, meaningful gaze. His appearance instantly darkened the faces of Xiaoyao Qingfeng and the Cloud City Emperor.
The Emperor's face was twisted in anger as he pointed at Zuo'an and shouted, "Xingchen Zuo'an, do you know what you're doing?! Do you really believe I can't crush your guild within three days!?"
"Heh, of course I know what I'm doing," Zuo'an said, gripping his greatsword and raising his voice passionately. "Even if I didn't make a move, would you guys from Xiaoyao and Cloud City spare us? What did you do during the boss fight? How do you usually bully our guild? My brothers from Xingchen have endured this crap for far too long!"
"Then prepare to disband your guild!"
Xiaoyao Qingfeng lost his patience. With a wave of his hand, thousands of melee players surged forward, charging straight toward Jiang Bai.
"Battle!"
With a furious roar, Xingchen Zuo'an, a knight, led the charge himself, rushing headlong into the enemy ranks.
"Fight!!!"
The 2,000 Xingchen members behind him showed no fear as they clashed with Cloud City and Xiaoyao forces in a chaotic melee.
Meanwhile, Jiang Bai's longbow pulsed with fierce energy, humming loudly.
"In that case…"
"Let's have a damn good fight!"
"Whoosh!!"
As the arrow shot out, the boiling blood inside Jiang Bai seemed to explode from his skull, soaring into the sky.
"Woooosh…"
Through the whistling wind, the arrow locked tightly onto the Cloud City Emperor—he fired a [Explosive Shot].
At the same time, countless skills and dazzling effects erupted into the sky, covering the heavens as they rained down upon Jiang Bai.
Naturally, the Cloud City Emperor knew he couldn't take that hit head-on. The moment the battle began, he and Xiaoyao Qingfeng began retreating into the crowd.
But how could a lock-on skill like [Explosive Shot] be avoided?
Three arrows in quick succession pinned the Emperor to a tree behind him.
In the next second, the Emperor's body turned into a white light—he had returned to the respawn point.
"One-shot kill!"
"Empty City Old Dream, f***!!!"
Seeing himself drop another level, the Emperor was heartbroken.
Above Jiang Bai's head, numbers floated wildly:
"-1"
"-2"
"miss"
...
Tiny damage numbers floated endlessly. With all the buffs, Jiang Bai's max HP had reached 3400, his attack had surpassed 700, and his defense nearly hit a staggering 300—normal players couldn't even break his defense.
Still, under the constant barrage of ranged skills from so many players, his health bar dropped significantly every second.
This was when Xingchen Momo's cleric squad truly shined. While damage numbers flew from Jiang Bai's head, the thirty clerics spammed heals and [Mantra] shields like mad.
Thanks to their perfect coordination, his 10% shield and heals never stopped refreshing. Jiang Bai's health bar always shot back to full!
After all, this was Xingchen's most elite cleric squad. With Xingchen Momo's top-tier command, every skill was cast with perfect timing.
After killing the Cloud City Emperor, Jiang Bai immediately pursued Xiaoyao Qingfeng. With his boosted movement speed, Qingfeng couldn't escape Jiang Bai's range.
A [Aimed Shot] dealt nearly a thousand damage, instantly depleting Qingfeng's HP. Jiang Bai followed up with a basic attack and finished him off.
Just as Jiang Bai was about to go on a killing spree, an unexpected trade window suddenly popped up in front of him.
"Huh?"
A strange look crossed Jiang Bai's face.