This Twisted Three Kingdoms Game Is Brutally Insane
Chapter 289 ·The Bizarre and Insane Sea of the Void
Not long afterward.
“Greetings, Lord!”
Five hundred territorial citizens assembled inside the Core Hall.
Hang Yu granted them teleportation access to the Sea of Eternal Darkness.
These five hundred individuals would represent the territory in the upcoming Lord Tournament.
Among them, 310 were selected from the five major Legions.
Another 140 came from more than a dozen medium and small Legions, as well as independent players.
The remaining fifty included Dian Wei, Jia Xu, Zhou Cang, Wen Pin, Zhang Zhongjing, along with numerous Black Tiger Commanders and elite Black Tiger Guards, every one of them worthy of focused cultivation.
Hang Yu could cultivate even a Level 1, nearly blank-slate vassal into a powerful Azure Dragon Guard.
These natives, who were born with excellent aptitude and talent, required fewer resources and lower costs to cultivate while possessing much higher potential.
“The rewards for this mission are unbelievably generous. Each person can earn over a million Contribution Points at most!”
Ye Limeng could not help saying, “Each of our five major Legions has roughly sixty participants selected. If every one of them earns a million Contribution Points, wouldn't that mean each Legion could cash in over sixty million Contribution Points on average?!”
It was an ideal scenario.
But it was certainly something to look forward to!
Over the past two days, every major player faction had exhausted itself and emptied its coffers to build up territory.
Even Legion leaders from the five major Legions had very few Contribution Points left in their pockets.
Rain after a long drought!
This large-scale event had arrived at the perfect time!
And the richer the mission rewards were, the more difficult and complicated the mission would be, which also meant the potential gains throughout the process would be even greater!
The players still did not know the specific details of the event map.
However, they already knew this event was the official competition of the Lord Tournament.
Which also meant.
A thousand Lords would be participating simultaneously.
That meant a thousand Starsea territories belonging to different races!
In the players' eyes, there were no competitors.
Only one fat sheep after another waiting to be slaughtered!
They had to perform well—not only to earn a huge fortune, but also for the honor and development of the territory!
The other territorial citizens were equally excited.
For example, Black Tiger Guards such as Zhao Xian, Deng Hong, and Zhou Ji realized this operation carried tremendous importance for the territory.
It would be a tremendous opportunity to earn merit.
Dian Wei's desire to distinguish himself was especially intense.
After all, Zou Wan, who had joined the territory at the same time as him.
Had recently demonstrated enormous value during the territory's construction and transformation.
As a mere warrior, he knew nothing except fighting.
Up until now, he had not earned a single achievement.
Yet he had already consumed enormous territorial resources.
Now that an opportunity had finally come.
He naturally intended to seize it and prove his worth.
Jia Xu, on the other hand, wore a gloomy expression.
He had never signed up.
Yet the Lord had personally designated him to participate in this operation.
The reason was simple.
This mission was extremely dangerous.
A strategist accompanying the army was indispensable.
Sure enough, living an easy life was not so simple.
Finding someone who fought better than him alone was not enough.
If he truly wanted to spend the rest of his life lying around like a salted fish.
He would also have to find someone smarter than himself to serve as the territory's strategist.
That.
Would be difficult.
Jia Xu was confident there were plenty of people stronger than him in combat.
But finding a strategist more cunning than himself.
Would probably be extremely difficult.
At least there was no hope of that happening anytime soon.
Well.
With Dian Wei and Wen Pin standing at the front.
Those simple-minded fellows would eagerly compete to take on all the hard work.
As for himself.
Hiding safely behind them while quietly collecting merit sounded pretty good too.
“The territory will soon activate teleportation to the Sea of Eternal Darkness. I shall now announce the rules of this tournament.”
Hang Yu proceeded to explain the tournament rules.
After hearing the details.
The players were stunned.
“What?”
“Doesn't this sound exactly like an Abyss version of battle royale?”
“Sure, there are some differences, but it's basically the same thing!”
“Winner winner, chicken dinner!”
“Hahaha! This is awesome! I can't wait anymore!”
“......”
Judging from the rules.
The players concluded that this Lord Tournament followed a battle royale format.
The Will of the Stars had thrown the representative forces of a thousand territories into a single savage and chaotic land.
Where those territories would slaughter one another while competing in both strength and intelligence.
Ultimately crowning one ultimate winner while ranking every territory based upon its performance.
In short.
The rules could be summarized in a single sentence:
Survive by any means necessary.
The longer one survived.
The higher the evaluation.
Hang Yu asked, “Do any of you have further questions?”
Little Bell immediately raised her hand.
“Lord, the announcement says we're only the first batch of participants. Does that mean there will be second and third batches later?”
Hang Yu replied, “The number of participants in the Lord Tournament is not fixed. As long as we continue defeating opponents and absorbing their Blessed Lands, our territory will gain additional participation slots.”
The players all nodded.
“So that's how it works!”
“It looks like if we want to win.”
“Simply hiding until the end won't work.”
“If everyone else keeps expanding their forces while we're stuck at only five hundred people, we'll definitely lose!”
“The only correct path is to stay aggressive!”
“......”
The Scourge Legion feared no hardship.
Every player was eager for battle.
Hang Yu also had complete confidence in them.
The number of troops a territory could deploy during the tournament was not fixed.
It could increase through expansion and conquest.
Or decrease because of war and survival.
Because no matter what territory it was.
Every participating force had a fixed number of troops.
Once one died.
It was gone forever.
No replacement soldiers could be substituted.
Which meant.
Extreme caution was absolutely necessary!
Otherwise.
If the entire tournament force was wiped out.
Even if the territory still possessed a million soldiers.
They could only watch helplessly.
Hang Yu was different.
His Scourge Legion was immortal.
Their cost of trial and error was virtually zero.
This would grant them an overwhelming advantage in both survival and warfare within the Abyss.
Raise a Cup to the Moon asked another question.
“Lord, after entering the Sea of Eternal Darkness, will there be any restrictions if we wish to return to the territory?”
This was also something everyone wanted to know.
According to the event announcement.
The event would last as long as fifteen days.
If participants could not freely return to the territory during that time.
Any emergency back home could become a major problem.
“There are no restrictions!”
Hang Yu answered.
Everyone immediately relaxed.
That meant participating in the event was essentially just unlocking an additional map where they could freely teleport to hunt monsters at any time.
It would not interfere with affairs in the territory at all.
It was nothing but pure benefits.
Before anyone could ask further questions.
A notification arrived from the Will of the Stars.
“Temporary teleportation access to the Sea of Eternal Darkness has now been activated!”
Hang Yu officially announced the beginning of the event.
“Everyone, begin teleportation immediately!”
“Yes!”
The Scourge Legion had long since run out of patience.
Afraid of wasting even a single second.
They immediately prepared to teleport.
Hang Yu continued, “Wenhe, Zhongye, you two will be responsible for commanding the entire force as well as directing the movements of the floating ship.”
Jia Xu replied, “As you command!”
Wen Pin shouted loudly, “For the honor of humanity! For the honor of our territory! This humble general shall fight with everything he has and never disappoint my Lord!”
Hang Yu nodded.
“Go!”
Two minutes later.
Everyone had disappeared.
They had already teleported to the Sea of Eternal Darkness as representatives of the territory.
From this moment until the event concluded.
Every Main City-level Blessed Land, including Luoshui Main City.
Could teleport directly to the Sea of Eternal Darkness.
Of course.
If they wished to leave the event map.
They would return to the Blessed Land from which they had originally entered.
Although Principal Long had provided Hang Yu with considerable useful information.
His understanding of the Sea of Eternal Darkness remained limited.
He could not offer additional guidance.
He could only observe.
And gather information.
Through the Lord's Perspective.
“At long last.”
“It has finally begun.”
Hang Yu looked forward greatly to this Lord Tournament.
Unlike the preliminary challenge inside the Colossus Labyrinth.
The official tournament would comprehensively test every Lord's strength, capability, and luck.
Participating territories would directly clash.
And wage war.
Even Hang Yu himself.
Had no absolute confidence.
In claiming first place.
However.
Now that he had entered.
Naturally.
He intended to achieve the best result possible.
Among the participating Lords.
Quite a number belonged to higher races.
Those races possessed numerous military units.
And their overall strength was extremely formidable.
Even a third-order Human territory.
Led by powerhouses such as Jia Xu and Dian Wei.
Would struggle to gain an advantage against them.
Especially territories that had already advanced to the Fourth Order.
If he wished.
To distinguish himself in this tournament.
His current strength alone.
Was clearly insufficient.
Hang Yu realized he needed to break through to the Fourth Order as quickly as possible.
At present.
He had already unlocked every Third Order talent.
He could break through to the Fourth Order whenever he wished.
The only reason he had delayed.
Was because he had deliberately slowed his pace before opening the next map.
In another two or three days.
The territory would expand into a new map.
The day the new map opened.
Would also be the day.
He advanced to the Fourth Order.
Hang Yu said, “Little Eight, report the territory's current resource situation!”
Little Eight immediately replied, “The territory currently has -656,000 distributable Magic Crystals, 1.539 million units of First-Order Material Essence, 234,000 units of Second-Order Material Essence, and -61,000 units of Third-Order Material Essence.”
“The current equipment reserves are: 40,200 First-Order equipment pieces, 26,500 Second-Order equipment pieces, and 14,100 Third-Order equipment pieces.”
“The current stockpile of various materials consists of: 1.489 million First-Order materials, 467,000 Second-Order materials, and 30,000 Third-Order materials.”
“The current inventory includes 6,422 Attribute Pills and 253 Black Dragon Spirit Steed Bone Whistles.”
“......”
Following Hang Yu's request.
Little Eight swiftly reported every category of the territory's inventory.
Among them.
The Magic Crystal reserve.
Was actually more than 650,000 in the red.
This did not mean Hang Yu had borrowed money.
Rather.
Too many future expenditures had already been budgeted.
Causing the finances to show a deficit.
Hang Yu still possessed several hundred thousand Magic Crystals in hand.
The reason Little Eight reported this reserve as negative.
Was because it had already included projected expenses for the coming period.
Only by doing so.
Could the financial situation be reflected more accurately.
During this period.
The territory's expenditures.
Had been enormous!
Simply preparing to deliver the 3,000 Strong Zombies and 5,000 Ironbone Skeletons purchased by the players.
Would cost the territory as much as 700,000 Magic Crystals.
And all deliveries had to be completed within the coming week.
Besides that.
Hang Yu also planned.
Within seven days.
To increase the number of Third-Order Abyss Barracks to one hundred and twenty.
By then.
The population limit of the territory's vassals would rise to 48,000.
In other words.
Aside from the 1,000 slots occupied by the Azure Dragon Guard.
The Scourge Legion's size.
Would reach nearly 47,000 within two weeks.
This process.
Would require another considerable investment.
In Magic Crystals and Material Essence.
In the near future.
Hang Yu also intended to rebuild important Main Cities such as Heyin, Shaxian, Xiping, and Old Wan.
Even if only their basic infrastructure was restored.
To recover their essential functions as hub cities.
It would still require another massive investment in Magic Crystals.
Along with enormous material consumption.
Precisely because of this.
Not only had the Magic Crystal budget entered deficit.
The Third-Order Material Essence budget.
Had also fallen into deficit.
Furthermore.
These figures still did not include every expense.
For example.
The number of Third-Order players and Third-Order territorial citizens continued increasing.
The Material Essence consumed each day.
For forging and repairing equipment.
Was steadily growing.
Meanwhile.
Zou Wan also generated enormous expenditures while transforming various facilities belonging to other races.
Furthermore.
Every newly constructed facility.
And every existing facility upgraded.
Required massive investments of resources.
Hang Yu was also continuously purchasing blueprints for resource-production facilities, cultivation facilities, and preaching facilities.
As well as Third-Order Revelation Divine Stones for opening new maps.
Additional expenditures.
Could occur at any time.
The pressure.
On finances and Material Essence.
Was considerable.
Fortunately.
The territory possessed deep reserves.
Its equipment inventory and stockpiles of raw materials were abundant.
These assets.
Could be liquidated whenever necessary.
Furthermore.
As the territory continued developing.
Its stable income.
Was steadily increasing.
Once they survived.
This explosive growth period.
From the late Third Order to the early Fourth Order.
The financial situation.
Would quickly return to balance.
Or even generate substantial net profits.
“I need to prepare in advance. Over the next few days, the deficit will continue expanding. If the cash flow breaks, we'll be in serious trouble.”
Hang Yu ordered Little Eight, “Withdraw 30,000 First-Order white-grade equipment pieces and 20,000 Second-Order white-grade equipment pieces from storage. Sell them gradually across the ten major markets. At current market prices, approximately how many Magic Crystals can they be exchanged for?”
Little Eight instantly completed its calculations.
“After deducting transaction fees, each First-Order equipment piece is expected to sell for an average of around 10 to 12 Magic Crystals. Each Second-Order equipment piece is expected to sell for approximately 40 to 45 Magic Crystals.”
After the Corpse Lich Territory Campaign.
And the Old Wan Campaign.
Low-level players had also spent every day endlessly farming.
Thanks to the Scourge Legion's tenfold drop rate.
Huge quantities of equipment had accumulated.
The higher-quality items.
Were generally kept by the players themselves.
The equipment submitted to the territory.
Mostly consisted of average pieces.
Or items with lower durability and weaker attributes.
Part of this equipment.
Would be dismantled.
To extract Equipment Essence.
Meeting the players' equipment repair needs.
The remainder.
Was simply stored.
Accumulating over time.
Into a surprisingly massive stockpile.
Merely selling this batch.
Of First- and Second-Order white-grade equipment.
Would generate as much as 1.1 million Magic Crystals.
For the territory!
Not only would this completely eliminate the budget deficit.
It would also leave several hundred thousand Magic Crystals.
As freely available reserves.
Hang Yu therefore no longer hesitated.
This pile of junk.
Was useless anyway.
So he immediately instructed Little Eight.
To list it gradually.
Across all ten trading markets.
Given the combined scale of the ten markets.
They would have no problem absorbing the entire batch.
Within seven days.
Besides the First- and Second-Order equipment.
Hang Yu also withdrew another 8,000 pieces of far more valuable Third-Order white-grade equipment.
These would be exchanged exclusively for Material Essence.
Each piece had to be traded.
For at least three units of valuable Third-Order white-grade materials.
Or fifty units of ordinary Third-Order Material Essence.
Enough to replenish.
The territory's Material Essence reserves.
Among the territory's large stockpile of materials.
Food accounted for a significant proportion.
This could also be sold.
To generate funds.
Finally.
The various Attribute Pills.
And Spirit Steed mounts.
Could also be liquidated whenever necessary.
After some thought.
Hang Yu told Little Eight.
“For these equipment transactions, besides accepting Magic Crystals and Material Essence, we should also allow exchanges for Skill Stones and useful blueprints.”
“Yes, Master!”
Little Eight immediately modified the trading rules.
This way.
Although the territory would receive fewer Magic Crystals and Material Essence.
There was an opportunity.
To acquire large numbers.
Of basic Skill Stones.
And many practical, commonly used blueprints.
Looking at it this way.
Although the territory's Magic Crystal and Material Essence reserves were extremely tight.
Thanks to its deep foundation.
It remained far from triggering a financial or resource crisis.
Of course.
They still could not let their guard down.
Take Material Essence for example.
Strengthening a high-quality blue-grade equipment piece.
To Level 6.
Consuming several thousand.
Or even nearly ten thousand units of Material Essence.
Was not unusual at all.
The territory now had so many Third-Order players.
And they possessed considerable numbers.
Of Third-Order blue-grade equipment.
Once players accumulated enough Contribution Points.
They would certainly launch a frenzy.
Of equipment upgrades.
Triggering another enormous wave.
Of resource consumption.
Merely selling inventory equipment or materials.
Would be nowhere near enough.
To satisfy the territory's development.
And the Scourge Legion's consumption.
Higher value-added industries.
And more hunting maps.
Had to be developed.
To increase income.
Come to think of it.
This expedition into the Sea of Eternal Darkness.
Might very well become an excellent opportunity.
To harvest massive quantities of resources.
After completing the territory's resource adjustments.
And planning the next stage of development.
Hang Yu immediately activated his Lord's Perspective.
To observe.
The activities of his territorial citizens.
Within the Sea of Eternal Darkness.
…………
Little Bell.
Was the first member.
Of the Divine Feather Palace.
To teleport to the event map.
After activating the teleportation.
She found herself enveloped.
In the light of the Stars.
The sensation lasted for two or three seconds.
She had never experienced anything like this before.
Every previous teleportation.
Had been instantaneous.
“Huh? Is this loading? This event map really is different!”
Little Bell had only just finished speaking.
When the starlight surrounding her rapidly dispersed.
The Luoshui Main City before her.
Had completely vanished.
Replaced by.
An utterly unfamiliar environment.
“So this is the exclusive map for this game event?”
Little Bell widened her eyes.
And began observing her surroundings.
She had appeared.
Inside an ancient stone hall.
It was roughly the size.
Of one or two basketball courts.
At its center stood a small altar.
Above it floated.
A brilliantly radiant flame.
Little Bell felt.
The flame before her.
Was extremely unusual.
Because as it burned.
It continuously released an invisible.
Yet vast and boundless.
Power of the Stars.
At that moment.
Information about the flame.
Suddenly appeared before her.
【Blessed Flame】This Blessing will extinguish in 5 hours 9 minutes 51 seconds... Description: This is a special Starsea Blessing. By burning, it generates Starsea Protection, but it will be completely extinguished once its energy is exhausted. Please replenish its fuel as soon as possible.
“It's a Blessing?”
“Why is this Blessing different from the Blessings in our territory?”
This flame floating above the altar.
Was actually a special Starsea Blessing.
Players could use it.
To teleport back to the territory.
However.
This Blessing.
Had a limited lifespan.
It would extinguish.
In roughly five hours.
What were they supposed to do?
Before Little Bell could think further.
All the other players.
Had completed their teleportation.
Everyone.
Was filled with curiosity.
Toward the brand-new environment.
And brand-new map.
“Holy crap!”
“This is insane!”
“Everyone, hurry outside and take a look!”
“The production budget for this map is absolutely ridiculous!”
“I feel like it isn't inferior to Sacred Azure City at all!”
“You country bumpkins, stop making such a fuss. It's not like we've never seen the world before... Holy crap!”
“......”
The players.
Who walked outside the stone hall.
All began shouting in amazement.
Little Bell and the others.
Found this rather puzzling.
Chenxi said, “We're all veteran players. We've already seen countless incredible things. Why is everyone acting like complete newcomers?”
Chi Mei Wang Liang also said, “Exactly. Sacred Azure City was already breathtaking. The architectural design and character models alone probably exceed every game ever made combined... The Sea of Eternal Darkness is only a temporary map. There's no reason its production cost should exceed Sacred Azure City!”
In fact.
Even if it truly rivaled Sacred Azure City.
After everything they had already experienced.
No one should have been this shocked.
Or even completely overwhelmed.
“Come on, let's go take a look too!”
Little Bell's curiosity exploded.
As she immediately walked out of the great hall.
When the members of the Divine Feather Palace saw the scene before them.
Every one of them.
Stared with eyes wide open.
Their faces filled with utter disbelief.
Chi Mei Wang Liang exclaimed, “What in the world is this place?!”
The Starsea Stone Hall.
Stood upon a small island.
The island itself.
Was only about the size of a large football field.
At this moment.
The energy released by the burning Blessed Flame.
Was forming a barrier around the island.
Separating it completely.
From the outside world.
Only because they were Starsea citizens.
Could they safely exist.
Within such an environment.
What truly shocked everyone.
Was undoubtedly.
The scene beyond the island.
The Sea of Eternal Darkness.
Was clearly nothing like the ocean.
People imagined.
Instead.
It was an incomprehensibly chaotic.
Polluted.
Mad.
Mutated.
Bizarre universe.
An endless void!
The Sea of Eternal Darkness.
Was not only not an ocean.
It was not even dark.
Instead.
Its colors were astonishingly vivid.
Far beyond imagination.
Even Chenxi.
A genius scholar.
Could not think of suitable words.
To describe.
What she was seeing.
It felt.
As though a group of three-dimensional beings.
Had accidentally wandered into.
A fourth-dimensional.
Or even higher-dimensional space.
Rendering them completely incapable.
Of comprehending.
The countless mists.
Flames.
Various energies.
Spatial rifts.
And the endless miraculous phenomena.
Continuously emerging.
Within the void.
Or perhaps.
It was like consuming ten kilograms.
Of hallucinogenic mushrooms.
Before falling.
Into an unimaginably creative.
Yet grotesquely twisted dream.
This tiny island.
Where they had taken refuge.
Was like.
A single grain of dust.
The surrounding space.
Resembled an animated world.
Generated by AI.
Everyone realized.
That every frame.
Every instant.
Within their field of vision.
Continually changed.
One moment.
A monster.
As large as the moon.
Covered in horrifying eyeballs.
And countless tentacles.
Appeared before them.
The next moment.
That overwhelming monstrosity.
Vanished completely.
Replaced by.
A grotesque giant.
With ten thousand feet.
Ten thousand hands.
And ten thousand faces.
Or one.
Of dozens.
Of entirely different forms.
Then.
The following moment.
An immense forest appeared.
Its trees.
Were made entirely of flesh.
Within it.
Roamed countless grotesque monsters.
Then.
The next moment after that.
The Flesh Forest disappeared.
Replaced instead.
By a city.
Composed of colossal pyramids.
Each tens of thousands of feet high.
Suspending millions.
Of dried corpses.
The changes described above.
Were merely.
The tip of the iceberg.
Because no one.
Could possibly determine.
How many myth-like monsters.
Strange landscapes.
Or mysterious ruins.
Were appearing around them.
Of course.
Beyond these wonders.
Which could still barely be described.
The area surrounding the island.
Contained countless more scenes.
So twisted.
That they defied all comprehension.
Along with bizarre spectacles.
Created by countless intersecting energy rifts.
How should one describe it?
This boundless void.
Was like.
An oil painting.
Overflowing with imagination.
Yet at the same time.
A chaotic.
Absurd.
Fantastical dream.
“What exactly is going on?”
“This is unbelievably imaginative! I feel like we've entered an indescribable world inside a painting!”
“Does this game's development team seriously have no limits? They keep surprising us every single moment!”
“Hurry and take pictures! Take as many as possible! These scenes probably contain enormous amounts of information about the Abyss! They'll give the Scholars of the Arcane plenty to study and might even help us uncover the secrets behind the world's setting!”
“......”
It was not only the players.
Even the NPCs.
Were equally astonished.
Zhang Zhongjing took quite a while before finally recovering.
“This place is astonishingly bizarre and chaotic!”
Jia Xu had originally lacked all motivation.
Yet after witnessing the bizarre reflections.
Of the Sea of Eternal Darkness.
His spirits immediately rose.
And he became genuinely interested.
“I'm not entirely certain.”
“But my guess is.”
“That the Sea of Eternal Darkness is actually formed from the spaces and remnants of countless shattered Abyssal Planes.”
“Which is why it simultaneously contains projections from different worlds.”
“As well as overflowing pollution.”
Dian Wei.
Zhou Cang.
And Wen Pin.
All looked completely confused.
They could not understand.
What he meant.
The players.
Immediately began discussing.
Salted Fish Thrust asked, “Brother Rui, what's your take?”
Black Pupil Brother Rui pondered for a moment.
“I think... if we compare the Abyssal Three Kingdoms where we live to an egg.”
“Then perhaps countless eggs are all being boiled together in the same giant pot.”
“Some of those eggs have cracked.”
“And their contents leaked out.”
“Forming egg drop soup outside.”
Shilipo Sword God asked, “So you're saying the egg drop soup is the Sea of Eternal Darkness? And we're currently inside the boiling water of the giant pot?”
Black Pupil Brother Rui replied, “That's only one way of thinking about it. Reality is definitely far more complicated than that. The Abyss is simply too abstract as a setting. Our understanding of it is still far too limited.”
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