Just as the Proud Dragon Emperor was fuming over the message Jiang Yuan and Hamster Pudding had posted using the precious in-game item "Server Loudspeaker," Wen Ding Cang Sheng, accompanied by several high-ranking members of Tianbo Mansion, teleported to the map of Shangjing City, the capital of Hanjiang City. They were now chatting and laughing with Hamster Pudding and Jiang Yuan.
"You sly dog, Jiang Yuan! Teleporting out without a word—I thought you were abandoning our Genesis Guild!" Hamster Pudding shot Jiang Yuan a displeased glare and said in a coquettish tone.
When she first teleported out of the Blackwater City map, Hamster Pudding had been furious and ready to settle scores with Jiang Yuan. But upon returning to Shangjing Mansion, she found Jiang Yuan lounging leisurely in a chair, alongside the guild leaders of Yunqi and Baihua Palace. After Jiang Yuan explained things, Hamster Pudding understood why Hanjiang City, where Genesis Guild was based, had suddenly and inexplicably won at the last moment. Her face was frozen in shock for a full ten seconds!
It turned out that after being repeatedly ambushed and killed by players from Emperor State, Jiang Yuan realized that toughing it out wasn't the answer. So he decided to immediately execute the pre-planned "cut the ground from under their feet" strategy. But when he left the Blackwater City map via the teleportation array and entered the Longmen Mountain branch of the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance's headquarters, he was dumbfounded!
There, he found the Yunqi and Baihua Palace guilds already locked in battle with the last branch leader boss of Longmen Mountain headquarters! On their own, neither guild had the strength to take down even a branch of the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance, let alone the headquarters. Yet, unexpectedly, the two guilds had joined forces, sneaked into the undefended headquarters, and launched a surprise attack on the home base!
Right at the start of the Alliance Raid Battle, the leaders of Yunqi and Baihua Palace had run into each other. After a quick discussion, they decided to do something for the Hanjiang City alliance. If Jiang Yuan hadn't arrived in time, even with their clever improvisation of his "cut the ground from under their feet" plan, their strength alone wouldn't have been enough to take down the Ten Thousand Mile Alliance's branch leader boss quickly!
In the end, with the help of Jiang Yuan's tens of thousands of Dragon Beard Tigers, they took down the enemy's branch leader in less than five seconds, just before Hanjiang City's own branch leader boss was defeated!
"Haha! Jiang Yuan, old pal, you're something else!" Wen Ding Cang Sheng gave Jiang Yuan a thumbs-up, praising his brilliant "cut the ground from under their feet" strategy.
"It's not all my doing. I think the credit for this victory should go to the leaders of Yunqi and Baihua Palace!" Jiang Yuan walked over to the two guild leaders, patted them on the shoulders, and said to Hamster Pudding.
"Exactly! Thanks to both leaders for stepping up at the critical moment, our Hanjiang City turned the tables! I plan to give two-thirds of the rewards from this Alliance Raid Battle to you, and Genesis Guild will keep only one-third!" After the victory, Hamster Pudding's earlier gloom had vanished, and she was in an exceptionally good mood. She smiled at Zhang Ergou and Hua Qiangu and said.
"No, no, how can we accept that?" Zhang Ergou quickly stood up, waving his hands in refusal.
Hua Qiangu, the leader of Baihua Palace, added, "Guild leader, we only did a small part. Genesis Guild single-handedly held off the attacks of tens of thousands from Emperor State and Ten Thousand Mile Alliance. Many of your brothers had their gear destroyed—that's the real challenge! We wouldn't dare claim such a big share of the credit!"
Hearing this, Jiang Yuan waved his hand grandly and said, "Simple. Every brother who participated in the Alliance Raid Battle, come to me for 1,000 gold coins each—including the brothers from Yunqi and Baihua Palace!"
At that time, the exchange rate for *Wanjie* game currency to Longguo currency was 10:1, so 1,000 gold per person was equivalent to 100 Longguo dollars! Of course, Jiang Yuan wasn't planning to exchange Longguo currency for game coins to hand out. Instead, he intended to distribute an entire chest of gold bars he had looted from the Shadow Demon!
"1,000 gold coins! Is that for real?" Upon hearing Jiang Yuan's words, Zhang Ergou, the leader of Yunqi Guild, stared at him in shock. These casual players rarely had more than 10 gold coins on them—1,000 gold would last them a long time!
"Guild leader Yunqi, how many members from your guild participated?" Jiang Yuan didn't answer but asked instead.
"Let me check... 623 in total." Zhang Ergou looked up the activity log, gave the number, and immediately received a trade request from Jiang Yuan!
"Ding! Trade successful. You have received Gold Bar x623 from player Jiang Yuan!" A notification sounded, and Zhang Ergou's backpack now held 623 gold bars. Selling one gold bar to a shop yielded exactly 1,000 gold coins!
"Th-thanks, big shot!" Zhang Ergou rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement, repeatedly thanking Jiang Yuan.
"Guild leader Baihua Palace, your turn." "Big shot, our guild had 860 participants, hehe!" Hua Qiangu grinned at Jiang Yuan, rubbing his hands as he spoke.
Moments later, Baihua Palace also received the full amount of gold bars from Jiang Yuan.
"Pudding, take these gold bars and distribute them to the Genesis brothers. Donate the surplus to the alliance as startup funds." Jiang Yuan then sent a trade request to Hamster Pudding, handing over 3,000 gold bars!
"Jiang Yuan, where did you get so many gold bars?" Hamster Pudding asked, a bit surprised.
"I completed a hidden main quest earlier and found them in a cave." Jiang Yuan didn't want too many people to know about the Shadow Demon, to avoid leaks reaching Zhang Yang, the leader of Shadow Moon Valley, so he kept it brief.
"Hehe, having a wealthy little brother is great!" Hamster Pudding patted Jiang Yuan on the shoulder, satisfied, her earlier resentment toward him completely gone.
"Ah! I'm suddenly regretting letting Jiang Yuan join your Genesis Guild!" Watching Jiang Yuan casually hand out nearly 5,000 gold bars, Wen Ding Cang Sheng, the leader of Wen Ding Guild, said with a hint of envy.
"Hmph! Don't you dare think about poaching our Jiang Yuan!" Afraid that Wen Ding Cang Sheng might try to recruit Jiang Yuan back, Hamster Pudding immediately grabbed Jiang Yuan's arm and glared at him warily.
"What? 'Our Jiang Yuan'? Things have developed that fast?" Wen Ding Cang Sheng raised an eyebrow at Hamster Pudding's phrasing, a playful smirk curling at the corner of his mouth as he stared at her.
"I-I meant he's from our guild!" Hamster Pudding let go of Jiang Yuan's arm, her face flushed as she explained.
"Haha!" Wen Ding Cang Sheng burst out laughing. Just then, he received a message from one of his subordinates!