Aside from the few factions privy to the inside story, everyone else was thrown into chaos.

Chaos.

It was a total mess.

The originally clear situation vanished entirely after the members of the Third Ring Domain's teams revealed themselves en masse.

Aside from the few factions privy to the inside story, everyone else was thrown into chaos.

"If we want to analyze the situation clearly, we have to pool the information everyone knows."

Mu Wan's expression darkened. She and Mo Nagu had joined one of the West Street Artisans teams this time; they weren't on the same side as those other factions.

"Right, is there anyone here not affiliated with those factions? Let's exchange info!"

Someone immediately agreed.

Those factions had already allied in advance. If the rest of them didn't hurry to pool their information and report back to their commanders, they'd be fools.

A single stone stirs up a thousand waves. The proposal immediately drew responses from the crowd.

Very quickly, the crowd pooled their information and figured out the current general situation:

The allied forces were Faction No. 3: the master of Stone Mountain; Faction No. 7: Baile Manor; Factions No. 11 and No. 14: the two groups from Zhennan County; and Faction No. 13: identity unknown.

The teams from the Third Ring Domain had scattered among four of those factions, all serving as game pieces.

Meanwhile, County Magistrate Luo was Faction No. 4, and his ally, Faction No. 10, was someone named Inspector Bi.

Right now, these two sides should be the primary opposing forces on the board. As for whether the remaining factions had joined in, that was still unclear.

"The Third Ring Domain teams want to make a move."

Mu Wan frowned. "But even if they're on the board at the same time, what's the use? There hasn't been any rule stating that pieces can fight each other."

"They can."

Smoke Girl spoke calmly. Her name was Jiang Xue, a member of Wuqing's Smoke Team.

"There is a type of card that allows pieces on the same Regional Grid to fight each other."

"..."

Mu Wan nodded. "Then it makes sense. County Magistrate Luo's situation is probably about to become extremely difficult."

"The most important thing right now is to inform our respective commanders so they can prepare."

For a time, panic spread.

The fact that there were five allied factions was too sensitive—after all, exactly five factions could win the game in the end.

...

...

"...Advisor, that's how it is."

Dong An relayed everything he had seen and heard to Yan Jing in detail.

"Mm, I understand."

Yan Jing nodded.

He had roughly guessed the other side's plan, but now wasn't the time to overthink it.

The dice above his head began to spin again.

It was already his turn.

However, at the last moment, he whispered a few instructions to Dong An, sending him off to get them done.

"You got it, Advisor. I'll get it done."

Dong An nodded vigorously and left.

"Begin dice roll"

[Faction No. 11 used a Designated Dice Card]

[The dice roll this time has been designated and cannot be changed]

[Choose to use a bye?]

[Faction No. 4 did not choose a bye]

[The dice points for this roll have been designated]

48 points.

Yan Jing activated Blink, appearing on Regional Grid 160.

A Random Grid.

On this grid, he had no way to perform any trade operations and had to face an uncontrollable random event.

This time, Tiger wasn't there to help him.

...

"Please bless him, please bless him, please let the Random Grid Advisor Xiao Yan landed on be a simple one..."

Tiger held three sticks of incense in his hands, bowing to the left, then bowing to the right.

Behind him, the Old Man instructed him on the proper way to offer incense:

"Huzi, a bit more to the left. You can't bow toward the stream, that'll cause trouble. And don't let your mind wander to random nonsense. This isn't Old Sin City; bowing carelessly here will cause problems."

"Right, this angle is perfect."

"Master Liu, aren't you anxious?" Fei Yu asked from the side.

"Of course I'm anxious!" The Old Man spread his palms, which were covered in sweat.

Given the Old Man's physical constitution, this was almost impossible, which proved he was truly anxious.

"So isn't Huzi all we can rely on?"

He let out a long sigh.

If he could intervene, he would have rushed up there long ago.

"I'll do my best!!!"

Tiger shouted.

"Do your best, Huzi!!!"

The Old Man stood up, clenching both fists.

"Do your best, Mr. Huzi!"

Fei Yu also stood up, clenching both fists.

Frankly speaking, without Tiger, this family would fall apart!

...

...

[Random Grid: Fortune Divination Spot]

[Recently, you have felt bad luck shadowing your every move. Thus, you head to a Guanyin temple to draw a Guanyin Divination Slip, hoping to resolve your doubts.]

[You may make the following choices:]

[Choice 1: Pay 20 yuan to obtain a medium slip, neither good nor bad.]

[Choice 2: Pay no fee and draw a slip directly. It could be good or bad.]

"..."

20 yuan?

Yan Jing had originally planned to pay a price to safely bypass this Random Grid, but clearly, this Random Grid didn't offer a simple pay-to-skip option.

Without hesitation, the thrifty and frugal Yan Jing chose the second option.

Looking at the solitary wooden table in front of him and the Divination Cylinder full of bamboo slips on it, Yan Jing walked up, picked it up with both hands, and began to gently shake it.

Clack—

Soon, a slip fell out and bounced a few times on the ground.

Yan Jing reached out and picked it up.

A small oil-paper packet was tied to it. Inside, a block of text was written in crooked handwriting.

Slip No. 22.

The system prompt immediately appeared before him:

[Slip No. 22, Medium Slip]

[When drought leaves fields parched and dead,

Thank the heavens for sweet rain shed;

Flowers, fruits, and trees drink their fill,

A single shower is worth a thousand gold still.]

[This slip indicates that the matter which has troubled you for a long time will be answered, granting you a chance to catch your breath amid busy affairs. In the next round, you will be granted a bye without anyone else's knowledge.]

Not bad.

Yan Jing nodded.

This way, among Bai Qiu's factions, Faction No. 3, Faction No. 7, and Faction No. 11 were all out of Designated Dice Cards.

As for the remaining Factions No. 13 and No. 14, even if they had Designated Dice Cards, he still had a Bye Card of his own.

Of course, he couldn't rule out the possibility that they possessed other cards.

Afterward, the crowd began a new round of movement.

During this round, there were hardly any major moves.

After all, every commander clearly understood in their hearts that the current battlefield was actually a showdown between Bai Qiu and Luo Sheng.

Any slight disturbance could cause the crosshairs to shift onto themselves.

Therefore, they basically all spent money to avoid disaster, except for the man from Faction No. 13 carrying a long blade on his back, who moved to a tier-one Regional Grid in Tranquil Valley and chose to fight Yan Jing's 30% strength shadow.

He spent about a minute cutting down Yan Jing's shadow at the cost of an injured palm.

In other words, after this round, everyone had landed in Yan Jing's Domain.

Yan Jing's assets were steadily climbing.

They had already reached 216 yuan.

Then.

Faction No. 1's Zhou Xian moved. Random Grid; gained 5 yuan.

Faction No. 2's scattered team moved. Mortgaged a plot of land and paid 5 yuan.

The ponytail girl from Faction No. 3 on Bai Qiu's side moved. Tier-one Combat Grid; passed through at the cost of an injured arm.

By this round.

The crowd finally noticed something was wrong.

So far, anyone who landed on a Combat Grid containing a shadow left behind by Yan Jing was guaranteed to get injured.

Furthermore, the combat strength displayed by the shadow seemed to fluctuate.

It was as if the shadow would only die after making you suffer. It wouldn't kill you, but its sole purpose was to inflict an injury.

The ponytail girl from Faction No. 3 had just demonstrated more than enough strength. Her first two Rituals were yellow-purple and purple—the officially recognized perfect Ritual ratio—which made everyone draw a sharp breath. Yet she had still ended up injured.

Not long after she got hurt, the shadow was wiped out.

"Something's wrong. There's something wrong with that Yan Jing."

Mu Wan whispered to Mo Nagu. "His shadow is different from everyone else's."

"If you get the chance, figure out a way to defect to his faction."

"Mm."

Mo Nagu nodded.

Afterward, under everyone's watchful eyes, it was Yan Jing's turn again.

The ponytail girl watched the dice begin to spin above Yan Jing's head and gave a light chuckle.

According to the plan, it was Faction No. 13's turn to use a Designated Dice Card.

This round would exhaust the Bye Card in Yan Jing's hand. Next round, everyone else would take a bye, and then they would use a Designated Dice Card to make Yan Jing roll a large number. Once he arrived in Zhennan County...

Everyone would then take turns finding an opportunity to land on the same grid as him.

There was only one key point: Yan Jing had to be ahead of everyone else. Only then would it be possible for as many people as possible to land on the same Regional Grid.

This was the plan formulated by their captain.

Their captain had originally expected the faction behind Yan Jing to use Designated Dice Cards to quickly reach Tranquil Valley. He hadn't expected Yan Jing to have such good luck, rolling a massive number on his own and then using a Designated Dice Card to pit and kill the long-haired man.

But the result was the same.

Sure enough, a message soon appeared on the light screen.

[Faction No. 13 used a Designated Dice Card]

[The dice roll this time has been designated and cannot be changed]

[Choose to use a bye?]

[Faction No. 4 takes a bye]

Excellent.

The ponytail girl smiled faintly.

Next, proceeding step by step.

[Faction No. 11 chooses to use a bye]

[Faction No. 13 chooses to use a bye]

[Faction No. 14 chooses to use a bye]

...

Soon, it was Zhou Xian's turn to move again.

After rolling the dice this time, he had arrived at the very front of the pack, on Regional Grid 191.

This time, it was a Special Grid again.

It was a card parlor.

And a Western-style card parlor at that.

The game was actually blackjack!

"Just pay the money and pass this time!"

Liu Ye said.

He hadn't expected their luck to be so bad as to step on a Special Grid a full two times.

Furthermore, he could already guess whose Special Grid this was.

They absolutely could not repeat their mistake this time.

"I don't see anything in the rules saying we can't cheat," Zhou Xian said in his mind.

After what had happened at the Herbal Tea shop last time, he had begun to take Liu Ye's warnings seriously. At the same time, drawing on his rich experience, he had pinpointed a loophole in the rules.

"...Is that so?"

Liu Ye hesitated for a moment.

"Then how about... we try it?"

He didn't know enough about Tiger; he had only heard Bi Jie mention him.

Thus, several minutes later.

[Faction No. 1 fails the execution phase; pays 20 yuan compensation]

"Fuck!"

Liu Ye clutched his head with both hands. Dammit, he knew it, he just knew it!

Just what kind of people were working under that guy?!

...

The outside world's reaction to this was much smaller compared to the last time, because at this moment, everyone's attention was focused on where exactly Yan Jing would go next.

Although the board looked calm on the surface, and aside from Faction No. 2's scattered team and Faction No. 13, the assets of the remaining factions were still relatively safe, everyone could sense the surging undercurrents beneath this tranquility. The hidden murderous intent was gradually beginning to surface.

"Faction No. 2 skips the execution phase; pays 5 yuan"

"Begin dice roll"

[Faction No. 3 chooses to use a bye]

On the list of numbers on the light screen, it was once again the turn of Yan Jing's Faction No. 4.

"Begin dice roll"

Here it comes.

For a moment, all the Third Ring Domain team members present smiled faintly.

[Faction No. 14 used a Designated Dice Card]

[The dice roll this time has been designated and cannot be changed]

Excellent.

With this, the killing trap was set.

The ponytail girl beamed.

However, the very next second, the smile on her face froze.

Because the light screen did not start the next dice roll; instead, another prompt appeared.

[Choose to use a bye?]

[Faction No. 4 chooses to use a bye]

!!!

How could he still have a bye?!

Startled, the ponytail girl looked up at the light screen in the sky and finally noticed a subtle discrepancy.

The prompt from the previous round had said: Faction No. 4 takes a bye.

But this round's prompt said: Faction No. 4 chooses to use a bye.

The previous round was missing two words.

Maybe... it wasn't a Bye Card?

Then what should they do now?!

Originally, their plan was for everyone to fall one round behind Yan Jing. This was because Yan Jing had rolled a large number once, and then they had designated another large number for him.

But now, because Yan Jing had taken a bye for two rounds, it was highly likely that Yan Jing would end up half a round behind everyone else!

The crux of the matter was that Factions No. 3, No. 7, No. 11, No. 13, and No. 14 had completely used up all the Bye Cards and Designated Dice Cards in their hands.

Even though Faction No. 9, Mechanism Alley Entrance, was also on their side, with things as they were, a single Designated Dice Card could only force one person to land on the same Regional Grid as Yan Jing.

It would form a one-on-one situation.

This had completely derailed from their initial plan...

Atop Stone Mountain.

Hearing what Bai Qiu said, the boy playing games set down his handheld console and frowned for the first time.

Then, he unpinned a brooch from his chest and spoke into it:

"Bu Ran, do you think you can handle this alone?"

"No problem, Boss."

From Faction No. 13, the man with the long blade on his back spoke softly.

"Mm, get it done."

The boy said softly, "Don't lose face for the Seeds of our Third Ring Domain."

"Understood."

The man nodded.

True, they were a team that had only recently risen to fame, but they were not a new team.

Red Name.

This was the name of their team, simply because their boss loved playing games.

And in games, there was a type of player known as a Red Name player.

This type of player had only one defining trait: they loved killing other players and looting the gear off their bodies.

Their team's average Dungeon rating was 7th among all the teams of this generation in the Third Ring Domain.

Meanwhile, the survival rate of the other players in the Dungeons their team participated in was close to zero.

The reason they had only recently gained fame in the outside world was because a few years ago, after that man had sparked a massive war in the Third Ring Domain and was taken away by a mysterious faction from outside Yueyin, the Third Ring Domain implemented a plan called the Hidden Seed. All teams with their level of potential were completely hidden away.

Out of the six people on their team, three were Seeds.

And he was the 87th Seed of the Third Ring Domain.

Ranked 8,764th on the Yueyin Player Leaderboard.

Personal Title: Heavenly Blade - Phantom Edge.