Chapter 230 – The Hunting Mode of the Generals

The Dragon Court Competition is organized by Lords.

For the Taixuan Alliance, there are six teams.

Across the entire venue, there are a total of 233 participating teams.

Naturally, most come from small and medium-sized nations, but the so-called ‘small nations’ are only small relative to the Seven Great Nations. In reality, these countries and factions are by no means weak, with many Great Lords presiding within their borders.

They too harbor the dream of overthrowing the great nations and taking their place.

Some representatives from small nations are brimming with confidence, baring their fangs.

In past years, it wasn’t unheard of for small nation representatives to reach the finals; there have also been cases where great nations suffered unexpected defeats and were completely wiped out.

“One of Taixuan’s representatives is actually Tianyuan?”

In the distance, a representative from the Divine Radiance Empire narrowed his eyes. “As expected, Taixuan has no one this year. Clearly, Taixuan has no talent, yet the Eye of Divine Radiance spent so much funds on so-called intelligence gathering—isn’t that a waste of our Divine Radiance taxpayers’ money?!”

Another Divine Radiance representative remarked, “The only ones worth noting from the Taixuan Alliance this time are Youshan and Wuji. Of course, they only warrant a little attention, after all, we here…”

He, the Blast King, and the Undead King each possess an Epic Divine General!

Especially the Undead King.

“Taixuan is weak this year, but for Tianyuan to secure a spot as a Taixuan representative, his rate of improvement is simply too exaggerated. In the next… Dragon Court Competition two years from now, Tianyuan will likely dominate like Han Yue did back then.”

Two years ago, three representatives from the Divine Radiance Empire were eliminated by the Cold Moon City Lord within the Chaos Forest.

Their numbers were directly halved.

In the end, they obtained a very limited number of Tokens.

“Therefore, if we get the chance, we must cripple Tianyuan!”

The key to achieving this strategic objective lies with the Undead King’s Epic Divine General, the ‘Fear Lord’. The Fear Lord can pull targets into an Illusion space, subjecting them to endless torment and instilling the greatest and deepest fears.

He can also force enemies to undergo continuous Reincarnation within that fear.

Within the Chaos Forest, they cannot kill Tianyuan, but as long as they can make him succumb, trapping him in endless cycles of great terror, breaking his invincible spirit, and preventing him from advancing courageously and vigorously…

Then, Tianyuan would be no different from being crippled.

In another location outside the Chaos Forest.

The six representatives from the Eternal Star Empire.

Three stood proudly, while three were respectfully deferential.

Among the three showing respect was the Everstar Lord who had once intruded into the Festival Grounds of Blue Star, intending to recruit Isloria. After all, he was merely the son of a Duke, while the three before him were the more esteemed Princes and the Princess.

He had unfortunate luck, encountering an era with three Princes and a Princess simultaneously.

If it weren’t for his inability to compete with the Princes and the Princess, he wouldn’t have had to travel to another Festival Grounds far away.

The two Princes and one Princess of Eternal Star did not turn their gazes towards the other nations. In their eyes, their competitors were each other!

Cooperation?

Impossible.

Even as fellow Eternal Star representatives, they would only fight for themselves. Whether to attack their own people depended entirely on their mood. They had the qualification to do so.

Because Eternal Star is the strongest among the Seven Great Nations.

And they are the highest-ranking Princes and Princess of Eternal Star.

…”The hour has come. All representative Lords, enter immediately.”

In the sky above, an authoritative voice echoed continuously.

Mount Luofu Master stroked his beard, “Go now. We shall wait outside for your glorious return.”

Mu Yuan, Tyrant Dragon, Wuji, and the others walked one after another toward the entrance shrouded in mist, their figures gradually disappearing within.

…

A moment later, the mist before their eyes slowly dissipated, leaving only faint wisps drifting between heaven and earth.

What met their gaze were ancient, towering giant trees.

Standing tall at an estimated height of over two hundred meters, each giant tree resembled a hundred-story skyscraper rooted in the earth. Their dense canopies blotted out the sky, and through the gaps in the branches and leaves, one could vaguely see thick white mist swirling beyond the giant forest.

That was the forbidden zone.

The activity range was limited to this two-to-three-hundred-meter-tall giant forest. Any competitor who went higher would be teleported out and immediately eliminated.

Looking around, Mu Yuan found himself alone in the emptiness, surrounded by utter silence without even the chirping of insects or birds.

Mu Yuan wasn’t surprised.

Anyone entering the Chaos Forest would be affected by its spatial rules, randomly scattered to different areas.

However, if Lords from the same faction happened to meet, they could gather to form a stronger team.

While pondering this, Mu Yuan extended his hand, and the Lord’s Mark on the back of his hand glowed brightly.

Undead General, Dolai, Seventeen… his commanders emerged one after another.

Undead General surveyed the surroundings, his soulfire flickering faintly, “This place is peculiar. My perception is suppressed; I cannot clearly map out the terrain in my mind.”

This was dangerous! Far from stable.

They needed to be more vigilant and guard their surroundings with greater focus.

“Indeed,” Mu Yuan said. “The space here is distorted. Even what the eyes see may not be real. In such an environment, ambushes in combat are more likely to succeed. Therefore, we need to…”

Dolai stared wide-eyed at its surroundings.

The giant forest was deep and serene, yet deceptively calm.

It shook its head—better not to think too hard. Using its brain was too much trouble for this Dolai.

Among the ten commanders, those with reconnaissance and detection abilities were Tree Spirit Grandma and Sophia.

The former, Tree Spirit Grandma, could connect a root to a nearby giant tree, turning the surrounding forest into her eyes.

The latter, Sophia, snapped her fingers lightly, using her Epic Skill ‘Nethercrow Storm’ to summon Black Crows. The crows flapped their wings and flew into the dense forest, becoming her eyes.

However, the giant forest was vast, and it would take some time to locate other Lord teams.

—Other Lords would surely know how to conceal their tracks.

Everyone wanted to be the hunter.

The easiest time to expose one’s location was when synthesizing the Heaven and Earth Scrolls into the Token. At that moment, glowing patterns would spread out, revealing the Token holder to everyone nearby no matter how they tried to hide.

Tactics and luck were crucial.

But only sufficient strength could bring the first two to fruition.

Mu Yuan took out his scroll, marked with the character for ‘Earth’.

He was contemplating which tactical plan to adopt—he had previously prepared 279 sets of tactics, broadly categorized into hunting, counter-ambushing, and reaping strategies.

As he pondered, suddenly…

Hum—

An intangible spatial force descended.After all, they were merely Third and Fourth Order ‘weaklings’ who knew nothing about the profound mysteries of spatial power. Dolai could only crudely utilize Space Devour. By the time Mu Yuan noticed the spatial energy descending upon them, he snapped back to reality to find that Deadbone, Dolai, and the others beside him had already vanished.

Only Xiliu remained at his side.

Had they been separated?

“To encounter spatial dislocation just ten minutes after entering, and of all places right in the middle of our own squad… What terrible luck…”

One could say it was astronomically unlucky.

But after a moment’s thought…

It didn’t matter. Having his elite team gathered together like this was somewhat wasteful to begin with.

Among the 279 tactical plans he had prepared beforehand, he had anticipated this very situation.

Beep~

Number of available tactics: 279 → 21

Based on the current circumstances, he still had 21 tactical plans at his disposal.

“Right now, the most important thing is to protect myself. If the Lord gets eliminated, all his subordinates will be forced to withdraw along with him.”

Therefore, he had Xiliu hold onto him while connecting through their shared power source.

This was to prevent spatial energy from descending again and separating them further.

Though even if he were alone, Lord Mu remained quite confident in his own abilities.

Afterwards, Mu Yuan activated the Mind Seeds planted on his various subordinates, but then frowned.

“As expected, the mental connection talent becomes far less useful when interfered with by this special terrain.”

He couldn’t communicate with Lu Liu, Seventeen, and the others, only barely able to sense their general directions and numbers.

However, thanks to their Hero-Lord bond, he could still maintain intermittent contact with Deadbone and Dolai.

“The team has been split into five groups.”

“Myself with Xiliu, Deadbone alone, Dolai alone, Tree Spirit Grandma with Red Robe, and the remaining group of Sario, Lu Liu, Seventeen, and others staying together.”

He couldn’t communicate with Lu Liu, Seventeen, and the others, but…

Following the plan he had prepared earlier, after discussion, Lu Liu and the others decided to split into even smaller teams.

The Tianyuan Experts dispersed into various parts of the forest.

Would they become the prey, or the hunters?

…

Time passed slowly.

Outside the Chaos Forest, the important figures from various nations waited quietly.

They gazed at the forest, which was shrouded in mist, revealing nothing.

They could only wait for someone to be eliminated to gain some understanding of the situation inside through their accounts.

“I hope the youngsters succeed.”

…

Somewhere within the Chaos Forest, General Dolai swaggered through the woods.

Hundreds of meters away, a Lord squinted from atop a lush tree branch.

“She’s all alone.”

“A territory expert separated from her group by the spatial dislocation? This is an opportunity!”

A blazing arrow shot forth like a shooting star.

Simultaneously, three high-level mages raised their hands, casting ‘Gravity Spells’ to suppress the target.

At the same moment, several Bull-headed Chieftains leaped down from the branches, dual axes in hand, chopping towards the petite, slender figure.

With such a combo, such coordination, the random Lord couldn’t see any possibility of failure.

Even experts from major nations would be instantly killed.

This is what coordination looks like!

He could already envision it: under the triple gravity suppression, the alert Blue-haired Girl would panic, finding herself temporarily unable to break free, only to be pierced through the heart by the sharp arrow and shattered by the giant axes.

The advantage is mine!

The Blue-haired Girl turned around. Her large eyes first showed surprise and confusion, then quickly filled with delight.The three descending gravity spells fell like a gentle breeze, causing no disturbance.

The arrows, blazing with fiery light as they shot forward, were caught by a massive hand and promptly crushed.

The giant axe…

Several dozen seconds later,

“That’s right, standing before you is the super, super powerful General Dolai.”

A massive hand materialized beside Dolai and slammed down fiercely upon the lord.

Boom—

In the crater, the nameless lord had already vanished into light, leaving only a scroll lying quietly in its place.

“It seems I’m the first to obtain a scroll, huh? As expected of me!”

Indeed, this was its ingenious tactic.

Probably.

…

The Tianyuan Faction—squad after squad, expert after expert—were all hunting in their own unique ways.

The steady approach;

The harmless facade;

The opportunistic method;

The spider-weaving-its-web strategy;

In one location,

A lord’s squad from the Divine Radiance nation was slowly advancing through the dense forest.

The unnamed lord’s brow gradually furrowed, a sudden unease creeping into his mind.

He glanced around.

The towering forest loomed darkly, like a gaping maw ready to devour, but such was the nature of the Chaos Forest.

“No, something’s wrong. Don’t you think there are too many roots and vines in this area?”

“Hey, you all…”

The lord had intended to ask his generals for their opinions, but when he came to his senses, he realized that his team had lost members.

A chill surged instantly to the crown of his head.

Second update…

(End of chapter)