In the Poison Fang Marsh, the players from eight guilds – Zhongcaotang, Yanyulou, Baqi Xiongtu, Samsara, Dynasty, Lanxi Pavilion, Hundred Blossoms Valley, and Treading Through the Void – guarded their respective territories.

They had discovered the Boss at slightly different times. The guild that found it first wasn't brainless; it was just that they hadn't managed to steal a kill. When they realized other guilds were watching, they immediately gave up on the attempt. In the end, the situation had developed into the stalemate they were currently in.

None of the eight guilds dared to act rashly, naturally waiting for their guild leaders to decide. A level 65 wild Boss wasn't a small matter; it was worth their guild leaders personally making an appearance.

As a result, the eight guild leaders felt awkward when they gathered. Although these guilds had always been rivals, they had become much closer recently. Just yesterday, the guild leaders had gathered to scold Ye Xiu of the tenth server. But overnight, they had gathered again, not to fight side by side, but to draw swords against each other.

Although everyone had expected this, they still felt a little uncomfortable. After all, joining forces against Ye Xiu was different. Misery loves company, and they had all suffered at his hands. The feelings they had developed through this shared hardship were different from the occasional collaborations to share benefits.

"That brat Ye Xiu isn't going to come and cause trouble again, is he!"

Sure enough, someone saw this familiar gathering of giants and couldn't help but bring up Ye Xiu.

As it turned out, everyone else agreed.

"I just checked, Ye Xiu's online, we have to be careful!"

"Yesterday, that guy snatched the Blue Crystal Knight in the tenth server. I think he might be eyeing the Marsh Hunter Leip here today."

"In the tenth server, at least he has a guild! Here..."

"Zhan Lou Lan!" someone immediately suggested.

"Even if he doesn't steal the Boss, he might team up with Deception to pick up scraps!" someone suggested a new possibility.

"We have to defend, we have to defend!" In the end, everyone nodded in agreement on the issue of defending against Ye Xiu. But the friendly and harmonious discussion ended there. Once the issue of Ye Xiu was settled, everyone became awkward again.

"Should we check the perimeter first to see if Ye Xiu has already snuck over?" someone suggested.

The suggestion was met with unanimous approval, and the atmosphere instantly became more harmonious. But then, Chun Yi Lao, the guild leader of Lanxi Pavilion, couldn't restrain himself and said, "Everyone, isn't this just fooling ourselves?"

Everyone fell silent. Indeed, their discussion was deliberately avoiding the issue of fighting for the Boss, and they were always bringing up Ye Xiu to maintain harmony. This was indeed self-deception. Even if they had to face Ye Xiu together again, the issue of fighting for the Boss would eventually have to be faced, and not just today. Fighting for Bosses was the most frequent way these guilds interacted.

Being directly exposed by Chun Yi Lao made the other guild leaders feel embarrassed. In the end, Jiang You of Baqi Xiongtu stood up and said, "Everyone, Guild Leader Chun Yi Lao is right, we can't keep fooling ourselves. But I think everyone understands each other's feelings right now. With such a strong enemy nearby, it would be easier for them to take advantage of us and grow stronger if we fight amongst ourselves. So I have a suggestion: can we find a more peaceful way to resolve the issue of this Boss?"

"Peaceful way." Many people deeply disapproved of those words. Because in the history of Boss battles, "peaceful way" was a worn-out excuse. It had been proven that it was always a smokescreen, used to conceal secret schemes. Today, everyone was resistant to those words. When they heard someone say "peaceful way," they felt like they were hearing him shout, "I'm going to cheat!"

As a veteran guild leader, Jiang You understood the situation. As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately added, "A peaceful way – it sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Hehe, but I believe everyone here is reasonable. We can take this step today because of prior conditions, which is different from the past. Ye Xiu, Yi Zhan Tian Xia, I don't think anyone wants to see these guys grow stronger. If we fight fiercely over a Boss now, it will only give them more and more opportunities. Especially since we don't know if they have already infiltrated us. When we compete, will there be people among us who are fanning the flames?"

"Then tell us, what kind of peaceful way are you talking about?" Hua Kai Kanzhe, the guild leader of Hundred Blossoms Valley, said.

Jiang You smiled again. "We still have to fight, but we can avoid a large-scale battle. How about we fight a few rounds in the arena to decide who gets the Boss? What do you think?"

"That's a good idea. I agree," Chun Yi Lao said.

"We've encountered this kind of method before, but who can guarantee that everyone here won't go back on their word after losing? Or use this as an excuse to play some kind of diversion tactic?" Yan Yu Suo Lou of Yanyulou said, his tone a bit hostile. It seemed he had had some unpleasant memories under this kind of arrangement.

"We can just record our agreement this time and post it online. With so many netizens and players watching, I don't think anyone would be embarrassed to go back on their word, right?" Jiang You said.

These club guilds valued their reputations, and if such an agreement were exposed to the public, they would have to abide by it no matter what. As soon as Jiang You said this, everyone fell silent. But then Jiang You added, "To prevent anyone from secretly playing tricks, the losing guilds will work together to protect the area and prevent anyone with ulterior motives from approaching and causing trouble. What do you think?"

Everyone heard that this was to prevent people from sending alt accounts to cause trouble, and that everyone would supervise each other, which was indeed the best way.

"Does anyone else have any objections?" Jiang You asked.

"I agree," Yan Yu Suo Lou said. "If this really works this time, then I suggest we do similar activities like this in the future. This way, we can also move towards healthy competition, and we don't have to rack our brains all day to plot and scheme. We can just focus on building our own strength."

"Yes, I agree too," Hua Kai Kanzhe nodded.

"I also agree." Ma Tasi Feng of Treading Through the Void then expressed his agreement.

The reason why these three agreed so readily was that their strength was inferior to the top three guilds. Boss battles had always been a matter of more losses than wins. They basically relied on finding the Boss first to succeed. Once it came to direct confrontation, like today's situation, they weren't very confident in their own strength.

But if they followed Jiang You's plan, it would be an elite team PK match. Their guilds were not as strong as those top guilds in terms of overall strength, but if they selected an elite team, it wouldn't be much worse than those top guilds. Compared to overall confrontation, they would have more opportunities. Moreover, if they could really develop this kind of competition in the future, then they could focus their efforts on strengthening their elite teams. This would be more beneficial for these guilds, which had fewer resources.

After all, to package a few characters into powerful ones, it didn't really matter whether you had a thousand or five thousand resources, because you probably couldn't use even a hundred.

These three were the first to have no objections. Then, Sanjie Liu Dao, the guild leader of Samsara, had a question: "I wonder what kind of arena match you guild leaders are talking about? Singles? Team arena? Team match? Or... a large battlefield?"

The competitive mode in the online game was very flexible and could be set by the players themselves. Unlike the professional league, a team arena match was always three-on-three, and a team match was always five-on-five plus one substitute. In the online game, the number of people was completely up to the players. And for team matches, once one side had more than ten people, it was no longer a team match mode. In the online game, this was called battlefield mode, which could reach a super battle of up to a hundred people against a hundred people.

The professional league definitely couldn't afford this kind of battlefield mode. A team with hundreds of professional players? They would go crazy.

"Oh, what kind of mode do you think we should play, Guild Leader Sanjie?" Jiang You asked.

"Since everyone is under the banner of a club, it would be best to play according to the professional league," Sanjie Liu Dao said without thinking. He would definitely not agree to a large battlefield. If the scale was large, it would be necessary to examine the overall strength of the club. He was worried that Jiang You's words were a trap, so he specifically raised this point.

Yan Yu Suo Lou and the other two were naturally on Sanjie Liu Dao's side. They hadn't mentioned this issue before because they had overlooked it. As soon as Sanjie Liu Dao mentioned it, they immediately reacted and couldn't wait to raise both hands and feet in support.

"I have no objections. What about the others?" Jiang You agreed without hesitation.

The others were Zhongcaotang, Lanxi Pavilion, and Dynasty. This plan could be said to be a case of these top guilds giving up their advantages, pulling the starting line back, and aligning with other guilds. Baqi Xiongtu had agreed, but these three might not.

As it turned out, Chun Yi Lao of Lanxi Pavilion was a straightforward person. He had been the first to agree with Jiang You before, and he didn't think too much about it this time, immediately expressing his approval.

The other two saw that this seemed to be the general trend, so they didn't raise any more objections. However, both of them left a loophole in their words, saying, "Let's do this for now." They only agreed to resolve the issue this time. As for the future, they would see how things went!