Chapter 869: Competing for Merits? Kill!!

Uuuuu!!!
The deep sound of horns awakened the sleeping grasslands.
Boom!!!
Groups of infantry marched out in formation from the main camp; cavalry units on both sides advanced continuously, their thundering hooves creating a torrent of steel, carrying clouds of dust as they emerged.
The grasslands awoke!
The battlefield came to life, once again brimming with a murderous aura that made blood boil and the earth tremble!
Boom!!!
Just as before, batches of players followed the cavalry confidently, heading toward the battlefield to confront the vanguard sent by the Mongol army and earn combat merits.
……
Although the battle between Yipin Hall and the four major factions of the Mu Family kept many awake all night, thousands of members from these factions exchanged for military ranks and gathered over seven thousand NPC cavalry. Such a massive force, along with thousands of rank-bearing soldiers scattered among the crowd, completely shattered Yipin Hall’s ill intentions.
Even if Meng Yun were impulsive, he couldn’t possibly choose to fight against the four major factions under these circumstances!
Not to mention that the twenty-thousand-strong forces of the four factions were already a formidable obstacle, with thousands of rank-bearing enemies hidden among the crowd—undetectable by anyone. If they engaged in battle, even if they managed to wipe out all twenty thousand of the factions’ soldiers, they would lose tens of thousands of their own, all sent to prison.
The combat merits of the factions’ soldiers were converted into ranks and cavalry; dying meant losing only a few cavalry, with their ranks remaining unchanged…
Meanwhile, attacking those with ranks would result in them being hunted by the system, unable to stay on the battlefield or in the city. Death meant being imprisoned for seventy-two hours, with at least four days needed to escape that predicament.
So…
By nightfall, the members of the four major factions no longer needed to worry about Yipin Hall at all.
They gathered together, completely ignoring Yipin Hall’s hundred-thousand-strong forces.
Yipin Hall’s morale was severely dampened, and they became much more cautious.
Moreover, they received repeated orders from their leaders not to attack the factions lightly in the short term, focusing instead on completing missions during the day to earn combat merits and exchange for ranks.
For this reason, the next day, Yipin Hall and the factions fought separately, avoiding direct conflict.
However…
Since they were still in a state of hostility, tensions were high, and soon friction arose on the battlefield!

“Damn it! These bastards from Yipin Hall don’t even want to face us anymore—they’re trying to steal our merits! They show up wherever our four major gangs are, always meddling. When will it end?”
“Boss Lei, what should we do?”
“That’s right! These damnards are too cunning! They have so many men. If each of them attacks once, how much merit will we brothers even get after all these rounds?”
“This can’t go on!”
In a certain area of the grasslands, where Lei Zhan and Xiao Bei were, Yipin Hall’s behavior of seizing monsters and merits became increasingly blatant and bold. Relying on their numbers, they utterly dismissed the members of Mu Family’s four major gangs. Whenever they saw a Mongolian cavalryman about to give up, they would charge in and attack.
“Damn!”
Xiao Bei couldn’t take it anymore. Wearing the “Right Arm of the Thousand-Year Corpse King,” he rushed into Yipin Hall’s crowd like black smoke and torn apart more than a dozen of their most reckless experts on the spot.
However, Xiao Bei’s cavalry quickly lost their protective status. At that point, those being attacked had the right to defend themselves and attack Xiao Bei.
“Xiao Bei! Come back!!”
Seeing the situation worsening and signs of loss of control, Lei Zhan quickly ordered his men around him: “Those without ranks take the lead in attacking, while those with ranks focus on defense and counterattacks!”
As soon as these words were spoken, the people of Mu Family around them became like tigers freed from their cages, breaking free from the battlefield among the Mongolian cavalrymen. In groups of several, they fiercely attacked the nearby Yipin Hall experts.
Shouts of shock, screams, and roars arose from the ranks of Yipin Hall’s experts:
“Damn bastards! The people of Mu Family are attacking first!”
“Holy shit…”
“Fight back quickly! Kill these kids!”
Yipin Hall had plenty of men, and they all shouted to counterattack, but they still couldn’t withstand the soaring morale of Mu Family’s forces, who slaughtered over a hundred of them in one go.
When Yipin Hall launched its first counterattack, hundreds of people suddenly rushed out from behind the enraged Mu Family experts…
Amid the chaos, there was a constant turnover of fighters.
Piercing warning signals rang in their ears!
“You maliciously attacked ‘Sergeant’ Kui Yong in the battlefield! This is rebellion! It has been recorded by the supervising officer…”
“Starting now, you are under arrest for 24 hours!”
“If killed while under arrest, you will lose one piece of equipment, and your status will not be restored after death. You will also be imprisoned in the hell cell for 72 hours!”
“If you kill a soldier with a rank, it’s considered rebellion! You will be wanted for a week! Two pieces of equipment will be dropped upon death…”

Continuous system warnings quickly echoed in the ears of more and more top experts from Yipin Hall. At the same time, the cavalry assembled by thousands of Mu Family disciples went wild—without any orders, with the thundering of hooves, they charged headlong at the crowd of Yipin Hall members.
“Damn! We’ve been tricked!”
“Stop! Stop now!” Amidst the relentless system warnings, a group of Yipin Hall experts quickly paled and lost their fighting spirit…
If killed while under arrest, their status would not be restored, they would lose their equipment, and they would be imprisoned for 72 hours—punishments that were extremely severe; killing the opponent would result in an even graver crime!
In an instant, the people of Yipin Hall stopped fighting. But the Mu Family continued their assault…
Sharp swords and blades swept mercilessly at those Yipin Hall experts who were already under arrest, killing many of them in an instant. Some of the Yipin Hall members, still unaware of what was happening, tried to resist; others panicked and turned to flee, creating chaos!
Those who tried to escape could nowhere go—the Mu Family experts pursued them like vultures, slaughtering them along the way. Wherever they went, the people of Yipin Hall struggled desperately, retreating step by step under the pressure of the system warnings.
“Don’t let a single one get away!”
“Come on! You bastards from Yipin Hall! I won’t even use my protection—let you kill me! Kill me!! If I die, you’ll all be imprisoned for a week!!” With their military ranks as backing, the Mu Family members were unafraid to confront Yipin Hall head-on.
At the thought of the vastly different treatment between the two sides, the people of Yipin Hall’s faces turned grim. They lost all their confidence from earlier attempts to claim credit for battles. Under the fierce assault of the Mu Family, they were utterly unable to mount any effective resistance!
Soon, thousands of Yipin Hall members left behind a trail of corpses on the grassland, hunted down by over a thousand Mu Family experts…