Nie Yan understood that he couldn't compete with the Century Financial Group in terms of financial resources. Comparing wealth with them was a joke!

With the financial strength of the Nirvana Guild, a salary of 20,000 for a second-tier member like Shaobing was already very high. Any higher, and the Nirvana Guild couldn't afford it. The Century Financial Group was offering six times that amount, simply throwing money around. Even the main force of the first-tier probably earned that much. Would Shaobing be able to earn back that much money for the Century Financial Group after Cao Xu spent so much to recruit him?

In other words, every time the Century Financial Group poached a member from the Nirvana Guild, they were basically making a loss.

With that money, Nie Yan could recruit even more experts from outside!

The Century Financial Group was deliberately making things difficult for the Nirvana Guild. They knew it was a losing proposition, but they did it anyway, because they had the money.

Wasn't the Century Financial Group trying to undermine the Nirvana Guild? Fine, let them!

Nie Yan said to Guo Huai beside him, "In my name, announce to the entire Calore City that the Nirvana Guild is expanding its recruitment by 40,000 members, increasing the total to 100,000. Relax the entry requirements somewhat, and start the selection process now!"

After listening to Nie Yan's words, Guo Huai thought for a moment and smiled. "That's a good move. No matter how many people the Century Financial Group poaches, we'll just replenish them. Let's see how arrogant they can be."

Nie Yan understood that the strength of the newly recruited players might not be up to par with the old members of the Nirvana Guild, but some decent players would emerge. He could select these people to make up for the Nirvana Guild's losses.

At the same time, Nie Yan increased some benefits for the Nirvana Guild players. With so many fortresses under its control, the Nirvana Guild's profits were quite considerable. The income from the fortresses was enough to cover the welfare expenses of the Nirvana Guild players.

After Shaobing and the others left, the Nirvana Guild seemed to calm down again for a short time.

Under the command of Knight's Elegy, the Nirvana Guild's forces steadily advanced, dismantling two more fortresses in a row before continuing towards the third.

Crazy Magic could only watch helplessly as fortress after fortress turned to ashes under the bombardment of the Nirvana Guild's Froststeel Catapults. They could only abandon those fortresses and concentrate their main force in Aeger Stronghold, preparing for a decisive battle with the Nirvana Guild.

However, the Nirvana Guild had no intention of fighting a decisive battle. They slowly dismantled one fortress after another. There were at least a dozen second-tier guilds in Moonlight City. The Nirvana Guild and the Mage Alliance were at war, and they were happy to sit back and watch the tigers fight. But if the Nirvana Guild wanted to settle down in Moonlight City, they would definitely unite and resist them. It was still difficult for the Nirvana Guild to completely control Moonlight City at the moment. Being able to control a few fortresses was already quite remarkable. Therefore, Nie Yan would rather destroy these extra fortresses first, and rebuild them when he had enough strength to control Moonlight City in the future.

Thus, everywhere the Nirvana Guild's Froststeel Catapults went, there were ruins.

As the battle deepened, the number of Froststeel Catapults at the forefront of the Nirvana Guild continued to increase, from fifteen to nineteen, and the Nirvana Guild's mechanics were still producing them non-stop. Another five were already taking shape.

The Mage Alliance was destined to be a tragedy. The longer it dragged on, the more passive they became. But to have them fight a decisive battle with the Nirvana Guild on the plains, they probably wouldn't have the courage. The Nirvana Guild had a full nineteen Froststeel Catapults—this was no joke! On the plains, no matter how many people there were, they would just be throwing their lives away.

After seeing the power of the Nirvana Guild's nineteen Froststeel Catapults, all the guilds of the Glorious Empire had a strong sense of crisis. They frantically searched for various ways to deal with the catapults. The Mage Alliance was also looking, but in this situation, they were at a loss.

It would take at least two or three more days to clear out all the Mage Alliance's fortresses one by one. As long as no unexpected situations arose during this time, there wouldn't be any problems. Nie Yan could occasionally go out and level up.

The Century Financial Group's activities in Calore City became more and more frequent. They frequently contacted the Nirvana Guild's players, waving huge amounts of money, trying to undermine the Nirvana Guild.

Many people couldn't resist the temptation of money, and some quietly left the Nirvana Guild. Nie Yan counted and found that a total of more than a hundred people had left, but fortunately, none of them were first-tier players. Most of those who left didn't have deep feelings for the Nirvana Guild, had a low presence in the guild, and didn't earn high salaries. If they went to the Century Financial Group, they could get better pay, so why not?

Nie Yan didn't care too much about the departure of these people. They weren't important figures, and they were insignificant in the Nirvana Guild.

Nie Yan suppressed the news. If this news spread, it would definitely cause panic. The Century Financial Group had been spreading rumors that the Nirvana Guild had lost many people to them. The Nirvana Guild's players were a bit confused, but they hadn't received confirmation from the Nirvana Guild's higher-ups, so they treated it as fake news.

Just when Nie Yan was racking his brains over this matter, he received a message from Guo Huai that the Century Financial Group's people had contacted Li Rui. The current situation was still unknown.

"I think Li Rui is a bit unreliable. Last time he wanted to see you, I asked him what it was about, and he was evasive. He's met with the Century Financial Group's people several times recently," Guo Huai said, expressing his suspicions. He had never had a good impression of Li Rui. Li Rui, Zhai Hao, and Liu Chengxu had joined the Nirvana Guild together. Zhai Hao and Liu Chengxu had already entered the core of the Nirvana Guild, and they had good talent. Li Rui was still just a small team leader, and he must be full of resentment towards the Nirvana Guild.

Nie Yan smiled after listening to Guo Huai's words. "I trust Li Rui. He's definitely not the kind of person who would abandon his principles for personal gain." He and Li Rui were brothers from two lifetimes. He knew Li Rui's character very well.

Guo Huai argued after hearing Nie Yan's words, "But if that's really the case, he could have just rejected the Century Financial Group. Why would he repeatedly contact them?"

Guo Huai wanted to say something more, but Nie Yan interrupted him. Nie Yan said firmly, "If Li Rui would betray the Nirvana Guild, then there probably aren't many people in the entire Nirvana Guild who can be trusted."

Guo Huai saw that Nie Yan was so certain and said helplessly, "Alright, I hope you're right."

The Enlos Tavern, next to the central square of Calore City, provided many private small rooms for players to have private conversations.

Li Rui was one of the few batches of Nirvana Guild members responsible for staying behind in Calore City. The fighting in Moonlight City was intense, but his life was still very leisurely. He could even come to the tea house to chat and drink tea. Anyway, he was an insignificant character in the Nirvana Guild. Zhai Hao and Liu Chengxu were already important figures in the Nirvana Guild, but he was still the same as before, messing around in the Nirvana Guild and whiling away his boring days.

He entered through the main entrance of the Enlos Tavern and scanned the entire lobby. There were only a few players drinking and chatting in the lobby. After confirming that there were no suspicious people, he walked into the private room.

"Hello, welcome, welcome." The players inside the private room stood up enthusiastically to greet Li Rui. They were all people from the Century Financial Group. They were wearing casual clothes with no accessories or medals. Even if ordinary people saw them, they wouldn't think that they were from the Century Financial Group.

"Hello," Li Rui said humbly, his eyes sweeping across their faces.

"How have you been considering that matter? If you're willing to be our Century Financial Group's informant and gather information about Mad Rogue Nirvana, we can definitely offer you ten times the price," said a mage wearing a gray decorative robe next to him.

"We've had several collaborations, and you've received a lot of money. What would happen if we released all of this information?" said a weasel-faced priest next to him.

"Are you threatening me!" Li Rui said coldly, looking at the priest with a chilling voice.

The priest laughed and said, "I'm just joking. If we cooperate fully, everyone will benefit. We won't leak the information. We'll each get what we need. We want information, and you make a lot of money. What's not to like?"

"That's right, brother, you can think about it carefully," the mage in the gray robe said, adding fuel to the fire.

Li Rui hesitated for a long time, looked at the two people next to him, and said, "You have to guarantee my safety."

"Okay, no problem. At worst, you can just leave the Nirvana Guild," the priest and mage exchanged glances, revealing looks of ecstasy.

Seeing their expressions, Li Rui snorted coldly in his heart. They were agreeing so readily now, but if he really left the Nirvana Guild, he would lose his value to the Century Financial Group, and they would probably abandon him without hesitation.

"According to the price you said, if I provide useful information, you have to pay extra," Li Rui said.

"Of course, that's absolutely no problem!"

Li Rui had previously provided them with a lot of useful information. Shaobing and the others were successfully won over after Li Rui provided them with some useful information, so they trusted Li Rui very much. After a while, Li Rui reached an agreement with these people. After they chatted for another ten minutes, he put on a black cloak and left. The people from the Century Financial Group also quietly left. The whole bar was as if nothing had happened.

After coming out of the bar, Li Rui once again dialed Guo Huai's voice communication.

"What is it?" When Guo Huai saw that it was Li Rui, he showed a bit of impatience. He had just received news from below that Li Rui and the Century Financial Group's people had just met in the Enlos Tavern.

"Executive Guild Leader, does Nirvana have time? I want to see him," Li Rui said sincerely.

"He..." Guo Huai was about to say that Nie Yan was busy, but he changed his mind and said, "Nirvana is currently at the Calore City Central Auction House. I'll have him contact you."

"Thank you, Executive Guild Leader," Li Rui said gratefully.