"This brother, as far as I know, to take down a main base or a branch base, you have to defeat the leader and hall master inside. With just our Yunqi's strength, there's no way we can beat those bosses. Can your Dragon Head Guild lend a hand?"
After each guild had chosen their branch base, the Yunqi Guild's leader, "Zhang Ergou," immediately brought up the current challenge they faced.
It turned out that every main base or branch base had several bosses set up to defend or guard them. Both Yunqi and Baihua Palace were mostly casual players, with mediocre levels and gear, so fighting alone wouldn't let them smoothly capture the Jiaolong Ridge and Baishan branch bases. They needed the help of a super-giant guild like Chuangshi.
"Don't worry, I'll come help you both take those branch bases smoothly."
Jiang Yuan waved his hand, signaling the two not to fret. Pushing bosses was such a simple task—Jiang Yuan claimed he could handle it all by himself!
"What? Just you coming to help us? Are you kidding me?"
The rough-and-tumble leader of Baihua Palace burst out laughing, thinking Jiang Yuan was joking with him.
"Dragon Head leader, is this brother messing with us?"
At this point, the Yunqi Guild leader's face also soured as he turned to Cangshu Buding and asked in a low voice.
"Relax! He's got the strength for it."
Cangshu Buding, now the Dragon Head, had become much more composed, shedding her earlier playful demeanor as she spoke seriously to the leaders of Yunqi and Baihua Palace.
"Dragon Head leader, let's be clear upfront—if these two branch bases aren't taken, then when the alliance plunder war starts, we won't be participating."
Seeing Cangshu Buding's confident attitude, the Yunqi Guild leader still had doubts, so he laid out his stance. After all, like Baihua Palace, they were a casual guild, and the rewards from the alliance plunder war didn't matter much to them.
"Yunqi leader, Baihua Palace leader, I promise you here and now: if Jiang Yuan can't help your guilds capture the Jiaolong Ridge and Baishan branch bases, not only will you not need to join the plunder war, but after it's over, our Chuangshi Guild will share some resources with you as compensation!"
Zhang Ergou and Hua Qiangu didn't know how terrifying Jiang Yuan was, but Cangshu Buding saw it clearly. Even if it were the main base of Heishui City, Jiang Yuan could take it alone without a doubt. So, Cangshu Buding pounded her chest and made a vow to the two.
"Deal!"
Zhang Ergou and Hua Qiangu, hearing Cangshu Buding's guarantee, finally relaxed and nodded in agreement to her terms.
"Alright! Next, let's discuss how to defend if the Emperor State and Ten Thousand Mile Alliance join forces to attack our Cold River City once the plunder war starts."
Then, Cangshu Buding brought up the main event of the meeting: how to counter the combined assault of the two alliances.
Currently, the Cold River City alliance, including Yunqi and Baihua Palace, had only about three thousand players total. Meanwhile, the Emperor State and Ten Thousand Mile Alliance boasted six major sects. Excluding the super-sect Aoshi Guild, any one of the others—War God, Nine Provinces, Fenghua, Mushui, or Junlin—could easily crush Yunqi and Baihua Palace combined. The total active players in those two alliances, as Aoshi Longhuang had said, exceeded ten thousand!
"If it were just the Emperor State or the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance fighting us, we might hold out, and even then, our odds would be fifty-fifty. If those two alliances team up against us, I'd say our chances of holding are zero!"
Though Yunqi was a casual guild, Zhang Ergou had heard of the major guilds on the Dragon Kingdom server, so he gave a very fair assessment.
"Exactly! Those two alliances together must be close to ten thousand, right? Beating us would be a breeze? I'll have my guild brothers fight alongside you to the end. Even if we know we can't win, we won't be cowards!"
The Baihua Palace leader had some backbone, acknowledging the vast gap in strength but still vowing to resist with Cangshu Buding.
For a moment, the atmosphere in the meeting hall grew heavy. Knowing that the two alliances might attack Cold River City together, a sense of "dying before the mission is accomplished" hung over everyone.
"Look at you all—already half-defeated before the battle even starts!"
Just then, Jiang Yuan stepped up again to boost their morale.
"I have a plan. If you can hold out against the combined attack of the Emperor State and Ten Thousand Mile Alliance for half an hour, I guarantee that tonight's plunder war will be won by our Cold River City!"
Jiang Yuan left his seat, walked over to the leaders of Yunqi and Baihua Palace, patted their shoulders, and smiled.
"Oh? Are you serious? What's your plan?"
The two leaders stared at Jiang Yuan, their faces full of disbelief.
Cangshu Buding had been worrying about this too. Though she trusted Jiang Yuan, she feared the unexpected—what if Aoshi Longhuang targeted him and he couldn't unleash his full strength? Then tonight's battle would be a sure loss.
"Jiang Yuan, have you come up with a good idea? Share it with everyone!"
But hearing Jiang Yuan's confident tone, Cangshu Buding's eyes lit up, as if catching a glimmer of hope. Her beautiful eyes fixed on him, burning with intensity.
"I plan to pull the rug out from under the Emperor State and Ten Thousand Mile Alliance!"
Jiang Yuan didn't reveal the full plan, only citing one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems as the code name for this operation.
"Pulling the rug out? What does that mean? No idea."
After Jiang Yuan spoke, both the Yunqi and Baihua Palace leaders were baffled. Even Cangshu Buding had no clue what Jiang Yuan was up to, so she quickly asked.
"I can't tell you the specifics yet, but right now, I need you to do one thing: tell your guild members to use every means possible to level up immediately—whether it's running dungeons, hunting wild monsters, or doing main quests—just get as many levels as you can!"
Jiang Yuan slammed his hand on the table with a loud smack, speaking almost commandingly to the leaders of Yunqi, Baihua Palace, and even Chuangshi's Cangshu Buding!