### Chapter 4: Epic Battle (3)
No matter who you are, if you happen to see a dark cloud of unfathomable, countless enemies floating above your head, you’d probably feel like your legs turned to jelly and your scalp crawled, right?
This isn’t about bravery or bl**d-pumping excitement. Even the strongest-willed person would have a moment of panic and dread deep inside. It’s just that their positive vibes are so overwhelming that they can brush it off like a pesky mosquito.
But strangely, they didn’t launch an immediate attack. Even the horde of self-exploding beasts that had crashed down from the mountainside halted in their tracks.
It was as if they were waiting for something.
The atmosphere was tense, especially for the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples. Their courage, which had been steadily building, was evaporating by the second.
Charging in without thinking would definitely lead to a swift demise, and playing defense was merely prolonging the inevitable!
At that moment, Wang Qianshan stood like a statue above the Grand Hall, gripping a golden flag that was just an ordinary banner from the ancestral altar—no real significance whatsoever. But Wang Qianshan gave it the heavy burden of representing the ancestors’ image.
As long as the flag stayed upright, the disciples wouldn’t dare retreat.
Just then, a white figure suddenly appeared overhead, staring down at Wang Qianshan from a distance.
“Elder Wang, glad to see you’re alive and kicking!”
Wang Qianshan squinted at the white figure, feeling an odd sense of familiarity. However, he couldn’t quite place the name.
So, he simply grunted, his expression getting even more serious.
Before a grand battle, when an enemy general shows up, it’s usually to persuade people to surrender or hurl insults.
Besides, this guy was likely a traitor from the Heavenly Sword Sect.
“Of course, to you, Elder Wang, I’ve always just been a lowly pawn. Why would you remember the name of a mere pawn?” Li Hanbo sniffed disdainfully.
Earlier, he had tried to expose the male character’s connection to the Yihong Courtyard but ended up getting a serious beatdown from the Law Enforcement Hall’s disciples, almost dying and respawning back to his starting point.
Naturally, he despised Wang Qianshan with a vengeance.
Now, armed with unimaginable power, how could he not showcase it? He had to humiliate Wang Qianshan in front of everyone to relieve his pent-up anger.
Wang Qianshan saw right through his intentions and coldly said, “Spit it out! Don’t waste my time!”
“Ha! Look at the esteemed elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect talking so crudely! Very well, today, I, Li Hanbo, will carve a path for you fine folks of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
You all see it, right? The enemy’s forces are overwhelming. Those who resist will inevitably d*e.
If you completely surrender, we might consider accepting you. Of course, there are conditions.”
Li Hanbo’s delighted gaze scanned the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect below, who were all looking up at him as if he were the king of the underworld, just a flick of his finger away from sending them from heaven to hell.
“If anyone can eliminate Wang Qianshan, not only will I spare his life, but I might even promote him to a general—as long as he knows his place!
Of course, if each of the remaining thousand of you can take a stab at Wang Qianshan’s lifeless body, I’ll wipe your slate clean of all your sins, no strings attached.”
As soon as this was said, the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples shook all over.
They erupted in angry shouts, “What a vile little brat he is!”
“Elder Wang is revered and respected by us, second only to the Sect Leader. How could we turn on him just because of your petty provocations?”
“k*ll him! Even if we d*e, we’ll take that scheming little rat down with us!”
Just as the crowd was boiling with fury, a few among them began to slowly move toward the Grand Hall.
Li Hanbo didn’t seem upset; instead, he smiled and continued, “I’m giving you half an hour. If I don’t hear a satisfying answer by then, I’ll have the whole army charge in, leaving no one behind!”
With that, he waved his sleeve and vanished into thin air.
Immediately, the fallen species scattered throughout the sky erupted in wicked laughter, their jarring cackles echoing in the minds of the gathered crowd.
Some couldn’t help but cover their ears, bending over and shouting as if that would ward off the heart demon gnawing at them.
Wang Qianshan, standing at the top of the Grand Hall, shook his head with a bitter smile.
At this point, he had resigned himself to the idea of dying; he just never thought that a traitor from his own sect would show up to sow discord.
He had assumed dying to the enemy would be his fate, yet now it seemed he had an additional way to meet his end—being killed by a traitor.
Half an hour isn’t long, but it’s not short either.
For the loyal disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect, it was an enormous joke.
But they couldn’t guarantee that among those thousand disciples, there wouldn’t be a cowardly soul brave enough to strike down Elder Wang—after all, just moments ago, there was one who wanted to surrender and ended up getting backstabbed!
“Anyone who dares move, I’ll take them out myself right here and now!” the disciples shouted.
Eyes red with fury, they scanned around; anyone who looked like they might hesitate was met with a loud reprimand.
“Any man with a shred of integrity shouldn’t even think about wavering now!
Otherwise, how can you face the brothers and sisters who have fallen in battle?”
Just then, those few disciples, who had avoided the notice of the crowd, were carefully sneaking closer to the Grand Hall.
They were former players, not true born-and-bred Heavenly Sword Sect disciples.
Their sense of belonging to the Small Thousand World just wasn’t as strong as that of the natives.
They knew they had survived by a mix of luck and strength, and among the remaining thousand, they were the few lone survivors.
Most of the so-called Inner Door Disciples were off leveling up or completing various missions outside.
They had thought staying in the Small Thousand World would benefit their training. Little did they know, they’d find themselves caught in a major disaster of their sect’s impending doom. They struggled hard to stay alive, hoping for a chance to escape. But upon seeing the enemy’s formation that morning, it was clearly the setup for total annihilation.
The demise of the natives was none of the players’ concern.
Moreover, the figure that had just appeared high up in the air was none other than Li Hanbo, the highest-level player in the Heavenly Sword Sect!
Everyone called him the “big brother,” nearly on equal footing with Luo Ying.
Of course, they weren’t daft enough to recognize Li Hanbo in front of the other disciples; they were terrified they’d be outnumbered and slaughtered right then and there.
So, all they had to do was create an opportunity to have a little chat with Li Hanbo, and being fellow players, he would definitely cut them some slack.
Once they could escape the Small Thousand World, the vast sky was theirs to soar through, and the ocean was theirs to dive into!
With that thought, their movements quickened as they carefully climbed up the surrounding wall, and Wang Qianshan’s back, holding the flag, came into view.
