22: Chapter 22 Player's Tactical Reform

The boisterous celebration erupted in the open space in front of the ancestral hall like a boiling pot of oil.

The distribution of spoils came to an end, and the green-edged sword, symbolizing the identity of an immortal master, was finally claimed by Demolition Office Director, who had the highest contribution.

He was currently caressing the sword body, unable to put it down, trying to use his intent, or perhaps some kind of intuition unique to players, to urge this Flying Sword to unsheathe and experience the thrill of flying on a sword like an immortal.

Of course, he failed.

Without magic power, this magic tool was no different from a high-quality iron ingot in his hands.

And that book, Fire Control Technique (Fragment), caused an even greater stir.

It was immediately included by Lu Bei in the newly unlocked Scripture Pavilion, and a new exchange option popped up before all the players.

[Fire Control Technique (Fragment): Exchange requires 1000 contribution points. Note: No prerequisites required.]

No prerequisites! Brothers! This means that we mortals without spiritual roots can also cultivate immortality!

One thousand contribution points... Damn, I just traded all my belongings for a fine steel broadsword, and now I have to start saving up from scratch!

Calm down, didn't you see the words Fragment? Also, the note says it can only be cultivated up to the third level of Qi Refining. This is clearly a transitional cultivation technique given to us by the ancestor.

In the crowd, a man with the ID Shield Mountain remained silent, not participating in the fanatical discussion about the new cultivation technique and the Flying Sword.

He was burly, with a calm face and eyes as sharp as a military saber hidden in its sheath.

He stared fixedly at the corpse of Chen Ping, which had been looted clean by the players and discarded casually, his brows furrowed.

Around him gathered several core members who had survived the battle to surround and kill Chen Ping just now.

We won, but it was a lucky win. Shield Mountain finally spoke, his voice low and powerful, instantly suppressing the surrounding noise. We lost seventeen people to pile-kill one Mid-Stage Qi Refining cultivator. If he hadn't been so arrogant, if he had kept his distance from the start and used his Flying Sword and spells for continuous attacks, none of us would have survived.

These words were like a basin of cold water poured over everyone's heads.

Yes, they had won.

But that sense of powerlessness, that fragility like an ant when facing the Fireball Spell and Flying Sword, still left many people with lingering fears.

Exactly, the player with the ID Infrastructure Maniac walked over, wiping the blood from his face. The traps I set, the pointed stakes, the rolling stones, they were useless against him. He could fly, damn it, he could fly! Although he couldn't fly high, it was enough to ignore ninety-nine percent of our ground-based methods.

And that Spiritual Energy Shield, a player with a broken arm added with lingering fear, our swords hitting it were like scratching an itch. If it weren't for I Love Exploiting Loopholes having a flash of inspiration and thinking of using a manure bucket to break the defense, we wouldn't have even been able to get close to him.

The thin player with the ID I Love Exploiting Loopholes chuckled, quite proud of himself, but then his face fell: But this trick can only be used once. What will we do next time when they are prepared?

A series of what do we do turned the atmosphere at the scene from ecstasy to heaviness.

They were no longer facing the bandits of the Black Wind Stockade who only knew how to use brute force.

They were facing a cultivator with extraordinary powers, who could fly, had a shield, and could attack from a distance.

And, in the Qingxi Chen Family, there wasn't just one such cultivator, but a whole group.

The carnival in front of the ancestral hall was covered by a shadow called reality for the first time.

Conventional tactics are no longer useful. Shield Mountain looked around at everyone and said word by word, We must change. Since we are players, we must fight in a player's way.

He didn't continue speaking in reality, but posted a thread on the communication interface similar to a forum that all players could see.

[Title: Tactical Revolution on How to Efficiently Kill Cultivators — The First Tactical Seminar of the Post-Chen Ping Era]

[Posted by: Shield Mountain]

[Content: 1. Enemy and Our Analysis: Enemy Advantages: High Mobility (low-altitude flight), High Defense (Spiritual Energy Shield), High Damage (remote spells/Flying Sword). Our Advantages: Quantity, Fearlessness of Death (high cost), Unlimited Tactics, Powerful Logistics (Ancestor). 2. Core Strategy: Play to our strengths and avoid weaknesses. Give up the foolish idea of confronting the enemy in their area of strength (spell duels). Our core tactics must revolve around the three keywords: 'restrict', 'consume', and 'focus fire'. 3. Tactical Concept — Shield Wall Stream: The enemy has long-range firepower, so we must have mobile cover. I propose that life players use the wood and ironware we looted from the Black Wind Stockade to create over-spec 'tower shields'. This kind of shield doesn't need to be exquisite, just huge and thick. One shield, pushed by three to five players together, forms a movable wall. Its function is not to counterattack, but to absorb the first wave of spell damage, creating a safe approach distance for the output and harassment personnel in the rear. This is our 'T' (Tank). 4. Tactical Concept — Spell-Breaking Stream: Facts have proven that filth can effectively interfere with cultivators casting spells. This shows that their spellcasting process requires 'focus' and 'cleanliness'. We can carry forward this tactic. Establish a special 'Spell-Breaking' squad. Their weapons are not swords, but lime bags, chili water, animal feces, rotting corpses, beehives... everything that can obscure people's eyes and disturb their minds. Their mission is to conduct saturation 'environmental DEBUFF' attacks on the target under the cover of the shield wall, forcibly interrupting their spellcasting, polluting their robes, and causing them to fall into chaos. This is our 'Support/Control'. 5. Tactical Concept — Talisman Sea: We have exchanged for Fire Control Technique, but cultivation takes time. Before we can conjure big fireballs, what is our most effective long-range attack method? Talismans! A low-tier Fireball Talisman might not be powerful, but what about a hundred? What about a thousand? I propose the guild raises funds, all contribution points are concentrated, and we exchange for the lowest-tier, cheapest attack talismans from the ancestor. During battle, a specialized 'DPS' (Output) squad, under the cover of the shield wall, will conduct indiscriminate, saturation talisman bombardment on the target restricted by the 'Spell-Breaking Stream'. We can't afford Flying Swords, but we can afford paper! 6. Summary: T (Shield Wall) advances, absorbs damage; Control (Spell-Breaking) moves forward, creates chaos; DPS (Talisman) follows up, focus fire and kill instantly. This is the only way for mortals to defeat immortal masters. Use our discipline, shamelessness, and disregard for cost to counter their pride, power, and so-called immortal decency.]

This post was like a depth charge dropped into a calm lake.

The forum exploded instantly.

Holy crap! Big Brother Shield Mountain is awesome! Professional! This idea is perfect!

Shield Wall Stream! Damn, I get excited just thinking about that scene! Brothers, whose ancestral hall door is big enough, let's take it down first!

Spell-Breaking Stream... Hahahaha! It cracked me up! Is this a tactic a human can think of? It's too dirty, too insidious! But... I fucking love it! Count me in, I've long been annoyed by those arrogant NPCs!

Burning Money Talisman Sea! Demolition Office Director strongly supports this! Brothers, DKP speaks, from today on, all spoils are prioritized for exchanging for talismans, anyone have an opinion?

The frenzied discussion quickly turned into even more frenzied action.

Under Lu Bei's tacit approval, a vigorous national preparation for war movement unfolded in the small valley.

Infrastructure Maniac led the life players to dismantle the side rooms of the ancestral hall, remove the sturdy door panels, and melt down hundreds of inferior weapons looted from the Black Wind Stockade, pouring molten iron onto the door panels to form a simple yet thick layer of iron skin.

A war door panel that was two meters high and 1.5 meters wide, which required four people to barely lift, was born.

When Shield Mountain personally organized the first shield wall squad and lined up five such door panels to form a ragged yet oppressive moving barrier, everyone was shocked by this scene full of industrial violence aesthetics.

On the other side, I Love Exploiting Loopholes became the chief instructor of the Spell-Breaking Stream.

He took a group of players who were afraid that the world wouldn't be chaotic enough and built a bioweapon laboratory in the back mountain.

They mixed the internal organs of wild boars hunted, poisonous insects collected, and various medicinal herbs with pungent odors, stirred them with mud and pig blood, and sealed them in pottery jars one by one.

That sky-high stench enveloped the entire camp in an indescribable atmosphere.

Skillful Hands Mending and a group of female players, while pinching their noses and cursing, excitedly sewed a large number of small cloth bags with animal skins, filled with lime and dried chili powder.

These dust bombs were affectionately called Immortal Master Happy Packs by the players.

And Demolition Office Director was swift and decisive. He used the prestige of being assigned the Flying Sword to quickly integrate all the players' contribution points and exchanged for three thousand lowest-tier Sharp Metal Talismans from Lu Bei's shop.

After this talisman is activated, it can only shoot a faint golden light, with power equivalent to being thrown by a stone.

But when three hundred players, each with ten talismans, lined up in three rows, that murderous atmosphere had already taken shape.

Lu Bei released a new family mission.

[Family Mission: Tactical Drill]

[Mission Objective: Using newly formed squads as units, master the joint combat method of Shield Wall Advance, Spell-Breaking Suppression, and Talisman Volley.]

[Mission Reward: A large amount of contribution points, outstanding performers can obtain equipment enhancement opportunities.]

In an open space in the back mountain, Lu Bei personally presided over this unprecedented exercise.

Shield Wall Group, advance!

With an order from Shield Mountain, twenty players roared and pushed the five huge door panel shields forward.

The ground trembled slightly under their heavy footsteps, and the wall made of broken door panels and rough iron skin seemed like a steel behemoth slowly waking up.

Hypothetical enemy, fifty steps away, prepare to cast spells!

Spell-Breaking Group, prepare — throw!

I Love Exploiting Loopholes screamed the order.

In an instant, hundreds of pottery jars and cloth bags drew chaotic parabolas, crossed the shield wall, and smashed towards the open space ahead.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The pottery jars shattered, and black-red filth splashed everywhere.

The cloth bags burst, and white lime and red chili powder permeated into a choking smoke in the air.

Cough cough... Damn, threw it wrong! The wind direction is wrong! A burst of curses came from behind the shield wall.

Apparently, the first cooperation was still very unfamiliar, and some bioweapons even fell on the edge of their own positions.

Don't stop! Talisman Group, three rounds of volley, cover the area ahead! Fire!

Demolition Office Director had shining eyes, held high the Flying Sword that could not yet be used, and let out a roar.

Hum —

Three hundred players simultaneously tore open the Sharp Metal Talismans in their hands.

There was no earth-shattering loud noise, nor gorgeous light and shadow effects.

There was only a dense buzzing sound, like a swarm of bees flapping their wings.

In an instant, three hundred faint golden lights converged into a golden rainstorm and poured out.

They covered a fan-shaped area of nearly a hundred meters in front, beating the ground and trees to pieces, leaving countless dense shallow pits.

In the sun, the land covered by filth and dust, and baptized by the golden rain of light, looked messy and terrifying.

On the other side of the mountain, on a hidden treetop.

A scout from the Chen Family was peeping at this shocking scene with a specially made spiritual mirror.

He couldn't see the faces of those people, only a black mass of heads.

He saw the moving, ugly steel barrier.

He saw the filth that was thrown in the sky and emitted an ominous aura.

He felt the torrent of spiritual energy that made his scalp tingle, gathered from hundreds of tiny spells.

The spiritual mirror in his hand made a crack sound that it couldn't bear when it came into contact with that mixed torrent of spiritual energy, and a tiny crack appeared on the surface of the mirror.

The scout's face instantly turned pale.

He remembered the assertions of the elders in the council hall about evil cultivators and puppets.

No...

That's not right!

Puppets don't have such tacit cooperation.

Evil cultivators can't drive such a disciplined army of lunatics!

This is not a mob, nor is it some evil path.

This... this is an army practicing how to slaughter immortal masters!

He didn't dare to look anymore, put away the spiritual mirror, his body turned into an afterimage, and he fled towards the Chen Family manor at an unprecedented speed.

He must report to the family head immediately.

The monster hidden in the mountain hollow is not a turtle shell, it is sharpening its teeth, preparing to bite back.

And in front of the ancestral hall in the distance, Lu Bei's spiritual body watched all this, and the deep smile on the corner of his mouth became colder and colder.

He could feel that after this battle, the players' incense had become unprecedentedly condensed and hot.

It was an emotion mixed with excitement, confidence, and an extreme desire for war.

Very good.

The leeks have learned how to grow and fight more efficiently.

Then, will the next harvest be far away?