17: Chapter 17 [Forbidden Hand]

When the Starlight Chessboard lowered a special curtain, the two commentators in the broadcast room immediately understood that Sakura Country was about to trip up Dragon Country.

The more senior commentator, York, was the first to speak:

"In this Game of National Destiny, Swordsman > Spearman > Archer > Cavalry. Even though [Cavalry] is clearly the weakest unit type, that new [Strategist] from Dragon Country still produced two [Cavalry chess pieces] in one go.

It must be that the [Seven In, Seven Out] ability requires a Cavalry unit to activate. Furthermore, since the [Seven In, Seven Out] skill was only used halfway, it is very obvious that the Dragon Country person intends to pull the 'tree of morning light'-snatching trick twice.

The intention is too obvious!

The Dragon Country person thinks of the Game of National Destiny as a bit too simple. With such an obvious intention, how could Sakura Country sit idly by?

The Dragon Country person should know that between causing the death of the previous [Strategist], cutting off Heroic Spirit authorization, and the negotiations of unequal treaties... whether in the Game of National Destiny or in the real world, the various great powers have already formed a trend of encircling and suppressing Dragon Country. Under such a trend, the overly simple thinking and operations of the Dragon Country [Strategist] will inevitably lead to obstruction from other countries."

The other commentator, Heller, highly agreed with his senior's statement. While nodding incessantly in affirmation, he also provided his own analysis:

"Sakura Country represents the various great powers and is responsible for monitoring and obstructing Dragon Country in this Game of National Destiny.

Sakura Country has obtained quite a lot of resources and various in-game items. Even if out-of-game items cannot be used now, the Sakura Country [Strategist] has more than enough ways to disgust, or even directly extinguish, Dragon Country's attempts.

Doesn't the Dragon Country person want to use [Seven In, Seven Out] to play the tree-snatching trick again?

The way to ruin the Dragon Country person's well-laid plan is simple; using either the [Capture Piece] or [Forbidden Move] in-game items would suffice!"

Commentator York added:

"[Capture Piece] can snatch Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces from the opponent's 'Heroic Spirit Pool'. It belongs to an extremely rare category of items. Sakura Country still has to compete for first place against the Ottoman, who also possess a 'tree of morning light'. I'm afraid they wouldn't be willing to waste such a rare item on the Dragon Country person. Since that's the case, only [Forbidden Move] remains.

[Rule 12: 'Placed' Heroic Spirits can be withdrawn. After withdrawal, they can be 'placed' again, but there must be a 15-minute interval in between.]

According to [Rule 12], the Dragon Country person withdrew the Heroic Spirit capable of releasing the [Seven In, Seven Out] skill. I think this move has major issues.

Only Heroic Spirits lying in the Heroic Spirit Pool can be affected by the [Forbidden Move] item.

The withdrawn Heroic Spirit will return to the 'Heroic Spirit Pool' during the cooldown period. Isn't this just handing the Sakura people an opportunity to use [Forbidden Move]?"

It was exactly as the two professional commentators had analyzed.

When the peculiar curtain fell upon the Starlight Chessboard, a starlight entity representing the Sakura Country [Strategist] appeared before Chen Aoyun.

The situation of multiple people playing a single game of chess changed its appearance at this moment from Chen Aoyun's perspective:

Chen Aoyun was on one end of the chessboard, while the starlight entity representing the Sakura Country [Strategist] was on the other end.

The two sides faced off!

The Sakura Country [Strategist] pinched their index and middle fingers together, and a peculiar card was held between their fingertips—it was precisely the [Forbidden Move] card the commentators had mentioned earlier!

The Sakura Country [Strategist] spoke slowly:

"Do you think that by pulling out two bizarre Heroic Spirits and coming up with a cheesy skill, you can easily snatch two important items?

Dragon Country person, are you looking down on the Game of National Destiny, or are you looking down on me, the one responsible for the obstruction?"

Chen Aoyun's expression was as calm as water, and he said indifferently:

"In the Game of National Destiny, there are no strongest skills, only the most suitable skills. Cheesy? [Seven In, Seven Out] simply perfectly addressed the difficulties of this Game of National Destiny. Where does this talk of being 'cheesy' come from?

Your Sakura Country is, after all, a major power that has long been able to achieve good rankings in the Game of National Destiny. Is it not a bit too clumsy to use such childish rhetoric to belittle my Dragon Country's native Heroic Spirits?"

The Sakura Country [Strategist] sneered:

"Arguments are useless. Watch as I use [Forbidden Move] to scrap that trash Heroic Spirit in your Heroic Spirit Pool. Let's see if you can still talk tough then!"

The [Forbidden Move] card flickered at the Sakura Country [Strategist]'s fingertips. Affected by this card, Dragon Country's 'Heroic Spirit Pool' was manifested upon the chessboard where both sides were playing.

In Dragon Country's 'Heroic Spirit Pool', a dozen or so 'Heroic Spirits' available to Dragon Country lay quietly.

There were ten Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces, eight of which belonged to 'Faceless Pieces'. 'Faceless Pieces' are considered scrap material; if Chen Aoyun has no Heroic Spirit image in his mind but forcibly condenses a piece, the Heroic Spirit that emerges is this 'Faceless Piece' Heroic Spirit.

Ignoring these meaningless Faceless Pieces, the Sakura Country [Strategist] locked their gaze onto a 'white-robed, white-horse' Heroic Spirit Chess Piece.

With a smug curve at the corner of their mouth, the Sakura Country [Strategist] pointed at the 'white-robed, white-horse' Heroic Spirit Chess Piece,

"Is this the Heroic Spirit that can release [Seven In, Seven Out]? You are truly stupid enough to dare let him return to the Heroic Spirit Pool. I will disable him for you right now, and let's see how you can snatch the second tree of morning light!"

They raised their hand to play the [Forbidden Move] card in their hand, but they did not expect Chen Aoyun to be one step faster. With a flick of his wrist, he played a [Concealment] card first.

The previous Dragon Country [Strategist] only obtained two items in the Game of National Destiny. They were [Endless Life] and [Concealment].

[Endless Life] successfully allowed Chen Aoyun to take over the game and become the new [Strategist] of Dragon Country.

The remaining [Concealment] card was not a high-level card. The only function of this card was: to partially hide the information of Heroic Spirits in the Heroic Spirit Pool.

Playing the [Concealment] card, unexpectedly, Chen Aoyun actually used this card to cover two Heroic Spirits in the 'Heroic Spirit Pool'!

[Concealment] could only obscure a small amount of Heroic Spirit information to begin with, and by having its effect split across two Heroic Spirits, its ability to hide Heroic Spirit information became even weaker.

But this strange move by Chen Aoyun also aroused the suspicion of the Sakura Country [Strategist].

Staring at the two Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces with obscured information in the 'Heroic Spirit Pool', the Sakura Country [Strategist]'s brows slowly furrowed:

"Excluding the eight 'Faceless Pieces', there are two Heroic Spirits with distinct images lying in the Dragon Country Heroic Spirit Pool.

One of the pieces, 'white-robed, white-horse', matches the Heroic Spirit Manifestation that appeared and released [Seven In, Seven Out]. I originally intended to disable this piece.

But why would the Dragon Country [Strategist] place the [Concealment] card over two Heroic Spirit Chess Pieces simultaneously? Besides the 'white-robed, white-horse' Heroic Spirit, what kind of existence is the other piece with the image of an infant?"

The Sakura Country [Strategist] hesitated. Although Chen Aoyun's [Concealment] move was clearly suspicious and intended to confuse, the Sakura Country [Strategist] still hesitated.

Seeing the Sakura Country [Strategist] hesitate, Chen Aoyun actually pushed these two pieces in the 'Heroic Spirit Pool' forward.

"Which one is the Heroic Spirit that releases [Seven In, Seven Out]?"

"Friendly reminder of two points:"

Chen Aoyun held up one finger,

"First, Heroic Spirits lying in the Heroic Spirit Pool do not count as truly 'placed' Heroic Spirits and can exist in the Heroic Spirit Pool without consuming Construction Power. In other words, if you disable the wrong Heroic Spirit, I will not suffer any loss at all. I won't have any losses, but you will have wasted a card. Cards and such cannot be taken out of the Game of National Destiny, so using them up is fine, it doesn't count as a waste. But if you disable the wrong Heroic Spirit, it's embarrassing!

Didn't you keep saying you would disable my ability to snatch the 'tree of morning light'? You've already made big claims; if you can't complete it, wouldn't that be embarrassing yourself in front of the whole world?"

Chen Aoyun held up another finger,

"Second..." drawing out his tone, Chen Aoyun said in a strange tone, "The same Heroic Spirit has many images. I can let the Heroic Spirit appear in a historical image, I can also let him appear in a novel/mythological image, and I can even let him appear in a childhood image."

"Images can change, mwah." (Shan Xin tone)

"Which piece is exactly the Heroic Spirit that releases [Seven In, Seven Out]? You had better think it through before playing your card, because according to [Rule 13], within the 15-minute cooldown period, you only have one chance to act!"

[Rule 13: Within the same period, hostile items cannot be used consecutively on the same [Strategist]; the minimum interval is 60 minutes.]

Besides [Rule 13], there is also [Rule 12].

[Rule 12: 'Placed' Heroic Spirits can be withdrawn. After withdrawal, they can be 'placed' again, but there must be a 15-minute interval in between.]

The Sakura Country [Strategist] had [Capture Piece] and [Forbidden Move] in hand, both of which could potentially paralyze [Seven In, Seven Out]. However, the cooldown time for using an item on Chen Aoyun for Sakura Country is 60 minutes, and after 15 minutes, the Heroic Spirit with the [Seven In, Seven Out] skill will be able to re-enter the field. Once it enters the field, these two cards held by Sakura Country will be unusable.

Therefore, for the Sakura Country [Strategist], even though they have two effective cards in hand, they only have one chance to disable [Seven In, Seven Out]!