After a day and a half of pursuit and slaughter, the demon army suffered heavy losses, no longer able to hold the three key border towns of the celestial realm, and retreated shamefully back into the demon rift. This time, the demon realm had taken a quiet but significant blow, temporarily abandoning their plan to seize the Demon Ancestor Luohou's foot, instead stripping the three occupied cities of all resources and retreating to regroup.
On the celestial side, though True Martial Emperor seemed to turn the tide single-handedly, repelling four demon emperors and severely wounding one, the celestial realm lost three cities and one of the Four Great Marshals fell, making it a slight loss overall. After the Battle of Lihuo City, Jiang Yuan and his team completed their main quest. Returning to Liuyun City, Jiang Yuan checked his final war merit, which stood at 1,350,000 points.
Liuyun City was now packed, with players from the three major immortal sects gathered there, surrounding the NPC "War God of Ten Thousand Realms" in layers, all eager to exchange war merits for seals. In the Eternal Life Hall group formed by Wending Cangsheng, many players quit after finishing their tasks, leaving only Jiang Yuan and his fixed team chatting.
"I thought this quest would level me up a bunch, but I only gained one level—what a shame!" Jiang Yuan said, a bit disappointed in the team chat.
"With so many players from the three immortal sects gathered, everyone only gets a sliver of experience. Getting one level is already good. Look at me, a single-target class—I only gained a third of my cultivation, and my war merit is just over 200,000 points. I envy you guys with AoE skills!" Ding Ye patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder to console him, then grumbled a bit himself.
"After exchanging for seals in this event, our equipment slots are only missing a Fengyun Seal and a Pouch. Once we get those, our gear types will be complete!" Hamster Pudding opened her equipment panel, glanced at it, and said cheerfully.
On the world channel, players at the front of the queue were already showing off the seals they'd exchanged. Through the rapidly scrolling chat, Jiang Yuan and the others roughly figured out the seal tiers. Based on war merit points, the NPC "War God of Ten Thousand Realms" offered five tiers: 5,000, 200,000, 500,000, 1,000,000, and 1,350,000 points, named "Warrior's Seal," "Cavalry Jade Seal," "General's Jade Seal," "Marquis of Martial Crown Seal," and "General of Pacifying Might Seal."
Checking players who'd finished exchanging, most had the first two tiers, while only a few—mostly top-ranked players on the leaderboard—had the 1,000,000-point "Marquis of Martial Crown Seal." After a long wait in line, Jiang Yuan's team finally got their turn. They stepped forward, spending their war merits for the appropriate seals.
Hamster Pudding, Ding Ye, and Chuangshi Xiaoyun each got the third-tier "General's Jade Seal," while Wending Cangsheng obtained the "Marquis of Martial Crown Seal," looking visibly thrilled. "Brother Cangsheng, share your 'Marquis of Martial Crown Seal' for everyone to see!" Ding Ye quickly said in the team chat, curious about its stats.
"Sure!" Wending Cangsheng replied, and the team channel displayed a screenshot of the seal's attributes.
[Marquis of Martial Crown Seal (Wending Cangsheng)] Level Requirement: 130 Realm Requirement: Ascension HP: +80,000 MP: +80,000 Attack: +50,000 Skill Accuracy: +15 Skill Evasion: +15 Ignore Damage Reduction: +5% Critical Hit Damage Reduction: +30%
"Dammit! Why does yours have ignore damage reduction? I'm so jealous!" Ding Ye cried out in anguish, feeling utterly defeated.
"Yuanzi, what about yours? Is it like Brother Cangsheng's? I feel like you two earned similar war merits!" After seeing Wending Cangsheng's seal, Ding Ye turned to Jiang Yuan.
"Better not look. I'm afraid your fragile heart can't take it, and you'll embarrass yourself by crying." Jiang Yuan tilted his head, giving Ding Ye a "I'm looking out for you" look with a kind warning.
But unable to resist the team's relentless pestering, Jiang Yuan reluctantly shared his "General of Pacifying Might Seal" in the team chat. They all leaned in to see.
[General of Pacifying Might Seal (Jiang Yuan)] Level Requirement: 130 Realm Requirement: Ascension HP: +100,000 MP: +100,000 Attack: +100,000 Skill Accuracy: +25 Skill Evasion: +25 Ignore Damage Reduction: +15% Critical Hit Damage: +30% Critical Hit Damage Reduction: +30% Demon Slaying: +20% Buddha Slaying: +20%
Jiang Yuan's seal not only had significantly better stats than Wending Cangsheng's but also three extra attributes! "Jiang Yuan, what do 'Demon Slaying' and 'Buddha Slaying' mean?" Wending Cangsheng quickly asked, eyeing the new stats.
"Based on my guess, they probably increase damage by 20% against demon and Buddha factions," Jiang Yuan said after a moment's thought.
"Wah, comparing people just drives you crazy! Truly, being weak in this game is the original sin! Xiaoyun, let's go!" Ding Ye covered his face, tears streaming down his cheeks as he let out a mournful wail, then dragged Chuangshi Xiaoyun out of Liuyun City.
"I'm off to do quests and level up too. The celestial realm's situation is still tense; we need to boost our strength to face tougher challenges." Wending Cangsheng said to Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding, then left the team to start his daily tasks.
"Did I... upset them?" Jiang Yuan sighed helplessly, looking at the only remaining team member, Hamster Pudding.
"Probably not. You've been this strong since the game started, haven't you? Hehe!" Hamster Pudding shook her head. In her memory, Jiang Yuan had always been this formidable.
"My sweetheart knows how to talk. The stronger I am, the better I can protect you from being bullied in the game!" Jiang Yuan took Hamster Pudding's soft hand, smiling as he spoke. The feeling of protecting his beloved filled him with immense reassurance.
"It feels great being protected!" Hamster Pudding squeezed Jiang Yuan's hand and made a funny face at him.
They strolled hand in hand through Liuyun City for a while, until Hamster Pudding had to log off to handle real-world business, leaving Jiang Yuan alone in the game.