Chapter 59: Shushan = Brokeback Mountain?

It shouldn’t be this ridiculous.

The system prompt said that a large-scale alien race force was encountered, and the only alien race in the Immortal Realm was the Demonic Race.

More precisely, the Demonic Race.

The Demonic Race… Endless Demonic Domain…

Thinking of this, Chen Xiaoyan’s eyes lit up—she seemed to have uncovered a corner of the Immortal Realm’s background.

A thousand years ago, the Demonic Race launched a massive invasion of the Great Song, and the fall of the Eastern Sea was only the first step.

What the Demonic Race hadn’t expected was that this world also had powerful cultivator forces.

Resistance from the Eight Great Sects.

And the instances were born out of the Demonic Race’s invasion.

This explanation seemed full of loopholes, but Chen Xiaoyan felt it was pretty close to the truth.

Otherwise, how could a level 20 instance start going wrong immediately upon spawning?

And that Endless Demonic Domain teleport point in the Monster Village—just analyzing it carefully could reveal a trace of the origin.

Even if not 100% accurate, at least half of it was right.

“A divine demon incident happened? Why can I see your health bars?”

“No idea, it seems I can see the health bars of all players too.”

“Me too.”

“+1.”

“Someone attack each other and see if there’s any damage,” Chen Xiaoyan said to them.

The players were a little confused at first but soon understood her meaning.

They attacked each other.

“No health lost, pain sense still there.”

“WTF, seriously? No team but damage immunity?”

Chen Xiaoyan furrowed her delicate brows slightly—this faction war was no simple matter.

“Xiaoyan姐, are all players considered in a team state now?”

“Yes.”

“Can we heal then?”

Chongchong’s question startled Chen Xiaoyan.

She immediately called over a player for an experiment.

“Uh, big shot, why self-harm?”

“Experiment,” Chen Xiaoyan replied calmly.

“Uh…” The player hesitated.

But someone couldn’t stand it anymore.

“A man dithering so much? I’ll do it,” a female Tang Sect player sneered at him, took out a hidden weapon from her backpack, and stabbed it straight into her thigh without even frowning.

A system prompt appeared over her head immediately.

【—160】

Everyone gasped.

They could all see the damage notification, which meant it was no different from being in a team.

“Chongchong, give her a Spring Breeze Lead.”

“Okay.”

Chongchong immediately cast Spring Breeze Lead on the Tang Sect female player.

【+160】

“Xiaoyan姐, it really heals,” Chongchong looked excitedly at Chen Xiaoyan after seeing the healing prompt above her.

“How strange.”

“I was planning to team up with Miss Tianxiang to get protection, but now there’s no need to team up.”

“This faction war is really something good.”

Chen Xiaoyan’s lips curved slightly. At this moment, she wanted to laugh out loud to the heavens.

Because the cards were on the table, no more pretending—the faction war mode was her home turf.

Umbrella Dance Healing, Spring Breeze Lead, Mu Yu Han Guang—all trash.

Return Wind Umbrella is the true eternal king.

【Mu Qingxue: Xiaoyan, where are your Tianxiang people? Hurry over.】

【Chen Xiaoyan: ???】

***

Mu Qingxue led the Shushan players to quickly pull ahead of the others, with Yihua Palace and the Divine Strategy Mansion close behind.

As the saying goes, if you don’t actively compete for monsters, you have a problem with your brain.

But after only a few minutes, they felt the ground trembling slightly.

“Um… feel the ground, something’s off.”

“There’s an earthquake in this game?”

“Shouldn’t be.”

“No earthquake—that’s cavalry coming, look ahead.”

The Shushan players all looked forward in unison—a cavalry unit of five hundred was charging toward them.

The closer it got, the stronger the ground tremor.

“It’s the Demon-Slaying Army, I saw them in the capital city.”

Five hundred men might sound like a modest number on paper, but in reality, facing five hundred cavalry was truly shocking for the Shushan players.

The ground trembled, and their hearts trembled along.

“Yù~”

The cavalry commander pulled the reins and stopped, raising his hand in a stop gesture.

The five hundred cavalry immediately tightened their reins and halted.

“Shushan sect disciples?”

The cavalry commander stared at the nearly ten thousand Shushan players ahead with great shock.

It was his first time seeing so many Shushan disciples gathered.

“I am Sima Yan, commander of a thousand troops in the Great Song Demon-Slaying Army. Please have the Shushan immortals clear the way.”

(Sima Yan, Level 38)

Level 38?

No way to win, no way to win.

The Shushan players hurriedly stepped aside to open a path.

“Damn, don’t push, let the NPC through.”

“Hey, you stepped on my foot.”

The cavalry commander watched these players making a mess of the formation just to let them through with disdain.

Immortals?

Clearly just a mob of rabble.

“Move on.”

The Shushan players watched the cavalry depart from afar, the dust kicked up by the hooves making them feel somewhat uncomfortable.

“Peh, peh, peh, the game doesn’t even design cement roads, now I’ve got sand in my mouth. Bad review.”

“The Immortal Realm is set in ancient times, you want cement roads? Dream on.”

“Stop arguing, look back—damn, Yihua Palace caught up. And you still have time to argue?”

Yihua Palace’s teleportation skills were the most plentiful in the Immortal Realm sects, but unfortunately, their range was a bit short.

Mu Qingxue glanced back and indeed saw the white-clad players approaching not far behind.

Both Shushan and Yihua were dressed in white, but the former wore white brocade robes, while the latter wore white silk robes.

Moreover, Yihua Palace was the sect with the highest female ratio among the seven sects.

Tianxiang, being an all-female sect, wasn’t even in the statistics.

“You guys Shushan are hopeless—giving way so far, yet Yihua still caught up.”

A male Yihua player used Shift Shadow Technique to catch up to the Shushan rear guard, his face full of pride at the surprise of the Shushan players.

“Tch, if NPCs hadn’t blocked us, you Yihua lot would only be eating dust from behind.”

“Male Yihua get lost—we only welcome Yihua ladies here.”

The gender ratio in Shushan was seriously skewed. Seeing the beautiful ladies in the Yihua ranks, their eyes turned red with envy.

“Ah, Brokeback Mountain’s getting anxious, bye.”

The male Yihua player mocked them and used skills plus lightness technique to quickly distance himself.

Brokeback Mountain?

Hearing this title, Shushan players were so irritated their teeth itched. They deliberately bumped into the male Yihua player to vent their anger.

Damn it, is it our fault there are so few Shushan female players?

Clearly the system’s distribution was unreasonable. Among around ten thousand players, only a few dozen were female, an absurd ratio.

If anyone deserved to be called Brokeback Mountain among the sects, the champion was undoubtedly Shaolin—with only a handful of female players.

“There’s something up ahead!!!”

While the Shushan and male Yihua players were sparring wits, the front-line Shushan players noticed the retreating Demon-Slaying Army.

“Speed up, we’re almost at Jinyang County.”

The general rode his horse in the center of the army, feeling anxious as the slow-moving troops lagged behind.

After running so far, the soldiers’ stamina was waning, naturally slowing their pace.

“Report: Sect disciples ahead.”

“Sect disciples? Haha.”

The general’s eyes widened in surprise, then he laughed excitedly, head tilted back.

“How many sect disciples?”

“Over ten thousand.”

The general was stunned, clearly shocked by the number.

Then he grinned, drew his long sword from his waist, and shouted, “Brothers! The sect immortals have come to support us! Stop retreating immediately and counterattack! We must avenge our fallen comrades!”

“Avenge!!!”