19: Chapter 19 Liu Shan and Zhao Yun

Sakura Country Strategist Saku Kenichi saw the following information above the chess piece of Liu Shan:

"At that time, the young ruler led a Cavalry in a 'Seven In, Seven Out' charge, unstoppable by anyone. Throughout the prolonged battle, his sword cut through iron like mud, and his spear struck like a dragon, descending like a god! Countless enemies died beneath the belly of the horse ridden by the young ruler, blood staining the battle robe..."

Seeing this information, Saku Kenichi naturally connected Liu Shan with the 'Seven In, Seven Out' skill.

Who should receive a 'Forbidden Move' and who shouldn't—Saku Kenichi no longer needed to think about it!

As for... whether there was any issue with this entry. Of course... there was no issue at all!

Which sentence in the entry information was false? Which sentence was wrong? None were false! They were all true!

Under the rules of the 'Game of National Destiny', false information could not appear.

When Zhao Yun performed his 'Seven In, Seven Out', wasn't Liu Shan riding the same horse as Zhao Yun? Was that false? No!

As for "the sword cut through iron like mud, the spear struck like a dragon..." the entry didn't specify a subject, so if one misunderstood it, who could they blame?

With the revelation of this entry, which the Sakura Country Strategist deemed key information, Saku Kenichi let out a wild laugh.

While the Sakura Country Strategist Saku Kenichi laughed wildly, Chen Aoyun laughed even more heartily, without the slightest attempt to conceal it.

Truth amidst falsehood, indeed. Though he laughed more heartily than Saku Kenichi on the surface, Chen Aoyun was sweating bullets inside.

"It's fortunate that my method for constructing Liu Shan was quite special, which resulted in this entry information."

"What's even luckier is that this idiot Strategist from Sakura Country thought he'd found the key information and didn't dig any deeper. If he had dug deeper, he might have discovered that Zhao Yun is the true owner of 'Seven In, Seven Out'... That was close, really close!"

Saku Kenichi sneered at Chen Aoyun across the chessboard, "Pretend! Keep pretending right there!"

"The appearance of a chess piece can change, but the information of a Heroic Spirit cannot be faked!"

"Sorry, I am going to put you in check!"

Saku Kenichi was incredibly confident. Without a trace of hesitation or conflict, a 'Forbidden Move' card appeared at his fingertips once again, and he decisively flicked it into the 'Heroic Spirit Pool'.

As the card entered the pool, a dense force of rules dissipated from the 'Forbidden Move' card, transforming into a heavy shackle that precisely locked onto Liu Shan's chess piece. The once vivid and lifelike chess piece instantly turned into a dull carving, its light suddenly dimmed, and it was completely sealed!

"It's over, it's all over!" "Liu Shan is disabled, 'Seven In, Seven Out' cannot be used, there is no longer any possibility of seizing the 'tree of morning light', I'm doomed..." Xiao Zhenghong's expression was full of desolation. If they couldn't seize the 'tree of morning light', the Dragon Country would inevitably fail to enter the top ten, meaning he would lose all hope of resurrection.

"Did you also think that Liu Shan was the owner of 'Seven In, Seven Out'?" Saku Kenichi's card had been played, and Chen Aoyun stopped pretending.

"That's right, the information of a Heroic Spirit cannot be faked, but sometimes, true information is the most deceptive!"

Xiao Zhenghong stared blankly at Chen Aoyun, not understanding what he was talking about.

Chen Aoyun didn't offer any further explanation. Instead, he looked at the Sakura Country Strategist Saku Kenichi across the board and said calmly, "You disabled the wrong Heroic Spirit. You can call me Daddy now!"

Saku Kenichi looked at Chen Aoyun as if he were looking at a lunatic. "My 'Forbidden Move' card has already been played. Are you still bluffing me? What's the point?"

Chen Aoyun said indifferently, "You don't have to call me Daddy. Just withdraw the curtain and end the match. Compared to you calling me Daddy, I would rather have the national destiny."

Saku Kenichi had initiated the match, and Chen Aoyun had responded by proposing a wager. The content of the wager was 'a call of Daddy' or 'a small amount of national destiny'.

At this moment, Saku Kenichi had disabled the wrong Heroic Spirit without realizing it. If he withdrew the match curtain now without calling him Daddy, then according to the rules, he would have to compensate with national destiny.

Chen Aoyun appeared to be giving a reminder, but in reality, he was urging the opponent to withdraw the curtain quickly.

Saku Kenichi fell for it. "Sakura Country's goal is to take first place in this 'Game of National Destiny'. I don't have the time or energy to waste on an idiot like you!"

Waving his hand to disperse the curtain, Saku Kenichi aimed for first place. Maintaining a one-on-one match would prevent him from surveying the entire chessboard. Anyway, his goal had been achieved, and maintaining the curtain was meaningless.

As the curtain was voluntarily withdrawn by Saku Kenichi, Chen Aoyun could no longer hold it back. He clutched his stomach and laughed "Hahaha" non-stop.

"Are you okay?" Xiao Zhenghong looked at Chen Aoyun with concern. "It's okay. Even if we don't get the 'tree of morning light', it doesn't matter. At least we made it into the top twenty. By squeezing into the top twenty and the middle rankings without relying on foreign Heroic Spirits, you have already made history using the Dragon Country's indigenous Heroic Spirits!"

"Although I might not be able to see your future achievements, I believe that with you here..."

The curtain overhead burst completely like a soap bubble. A force of rules drilled into Chen Aoyun's palm. Pulling Xiao Zhenghong closer, Chen Aoyun opened his palm, and several small beads representing national destiny rolled in it.

Xiao Zhenghong was noticeably stunned and said in astonishment, "This is... national destiny?"

'National destiny' can be brought into the 'Game of National Destiny', used to strengthen Heroic Spirits or as a wager. The rules for each 'Game of National Destiny' differ, and the amount of national destiny that can be brought in varies accordingly.

In the current 'Game of National Destiny', the upper limit of national destiny that countries can bring in is 'one hundred thousand'. The consumption ratio for using national destiny to buff Heroic Spirits is quite high. Given this extremely high consumption ratio, using national destiny to buff Heroic Spirits is extremely cost-ineffective. Therefore, the 'national destiny' in this game is mostly treated as a wager for the match.

The Dragon Country's national destiny was barely enough to maintain national stability, so it was naturally impossible to let any Strategist bring it into the 'Game of National Destiny' as a wager. The previous Dragon Country Strategist who died hadn't brought any national destiny wagers, and Chen Aoyun, who had "joined the job" later, didn't even have an official "position", so it was even more impossible for him to have such national destiny wagers.

Then where did the wagers in Chen Aoyun's hand come from? The answer was obvious! After the wager, the Sakura Country Strategist had lost but failed to fulfill the bet—he hadn't called him Daddy—so the will of the 'Game of National Destiny', according to the rules, compensated the Dragon Country, specifically compensating him, Chen Aoyun!

Seeing the five small beads pulsing with the power of national destiny in Chen Aoyun's palm, not only was Xiao Zhenghong too stunned to speak, but the audience watching the live stream was also incredibly shocked. They were so shocked that the bullet comments in the live chat room flooded the screen once again.

How many times had the screen been flooded with comments because of this new Dragon Country Strategist? Conjuring an indigenous Dragon Country Heroic Spirit, once; constructing an exclusive skill for a Dragon Country Heroic Spirit, the second time; the skill being 'Seven In, Seven Out' to perfectly seize the 'tree of dark twilight', the third time; at this very moment, that makes it the fourth time! The fourth time the screen was flooded.

"What is that in the Dragon Country Strategist's hand? National destiny wagers? I remember the Dragon Country didn't bring any national destiny wagers into the game! Where did those five wager beads in his hand come from?" "Could it be that he got them from the Sakura people?" "If they really came from the Sakura Country people, doesn't that mean... that Sakura Country Strategist disabled the wrong Heroic Spirit?"

The commentator York was more professional. He noticed that when Sakura Country's Saku Kenichi withdrew the one-on-one curtain, a stream of light representing the rules had drilled into Chen Aoyun's palm. That stream of light might have been a forced fulfillment of the wager by the rules!

York was incredibly surprised and shocked. "I am surprised because I completely fail to understand how the Dragon Country Strategist made the Sakura person disable the wrong Heroic Spirit. Judging from the 'Heroic Spirit Entry' that appeared on Liu Shan's chess piece, 'Seven In, Seven Out' should have been his skill, but as it turns out, it wasn't!"

That entry ["At that time, the young ruler led a Cavalry in a 'Seven In, Seven Out' charge, unstoppable by anyone. Throughout the prolonged battle, his sword cut through iron like mud, and his spear struck like a dragon, descending like a god! Countless enemies died beneath the belly of the horse ridden by the young ruler, blood staining the battle robe..."] had fooled everyone, including the Sakura Country Strategist and the two professional commentators.

Now, carefully pondering this entry for Liu Shan, it clearly had deliberate embellishments. "The young ruler led a Cavalry in a 'Seven In, Seven Out' charge." Who is the young ruler? The Heroic Spirit Liu Shan? Then what about "the Cavalry he led"?

York froze, then slammed his fist down hard. "I see! I understand!" "The Cavalry, the Cavalry in the entry is the one who performed the 'Seven In, Seven Out'!" "And this Cavalry, if I'm not mistaken, is the other Heroic Spirit in the Dragon Country's Heroic Spirit Pool—Zhao Yun!"

"Good grief!" "It was clearly Zhao Yun's 'Seven In, Seven Out', yet it appeared in the entry for the Heroic Spirit Liu Shan using a logic that was compliant with the rules but subverted conventional thinking!" "This couldn't be a coincidence; it could only be intentional on the part of the Dragon Country's Strategist!"

"To what extent must one understand the legends of these two Heroic Spirits to use correct entries in such an imaginative way to disrupt perception and interfere with decision-making?"

Shocking. York's words were like a thunderclap, causing the volume of bullet comments in the live chat room to flood the screen exponentially once again!

"Wait, how come I don't understand what the commentator is saying?" "If you didn't understand that, you're really stupid." "If you understood it, you explain it then."

"I'll explain it. The commentator York means that the Dragon Country's Strategist used correct entries to mislead the Sakura people into making the wrong judgment! The reason he could do this is that Liu Shan and Zhao Yun might have an inherent connection, and the 'Cavalry' mentioned in Liu Shan's entry might just be Zhao Yun!"

"Precisely because the Cavalry is Zhao Yun, every word of the entry is correct, and there's nothing wrong with it, yet it can make people mistakenly believe that the owner of 'Seven In, Seven Out' is Liu Shan!"

"Holy crap, you can play with Heroic Spirit entries like this? Isn't the Dragon Country person cheating? Didn't the will of the national destiny see it, and why didn't it intervene?"

"Intervene? Intervene in what? The entry wasn't written by the Dragon Country Strategist; the entry was manifested by the rules. The one who wrote the entry wasn't the Dragon Country Strategist, but the rules themselves. Would the will of national destiny intervene with itself?"

"The reason the entry misled people is likely because the Dragon Country Strategist thought a bit more when constructing the Liu Shan chess piece, deliberately manifesting such a segment in his mind that was consistent with logic and legends. This manipulation is completely within the rules, and even the will of the 'Game of National Destiny' couldn't find fault with it~"

"My God, is the Dragon Country Strategist that awesome? Then why haven't I seen similar operations before?"

"Isn't it normal not to have seen it? The Dragon Country's Heroic Spirits are all new Heroic Spirits that haven't appeared before. Such 'misleading entries' only have meaning when the new Heroic Spirits aren't well-known. Otherwise, if you use a Heroic Spirit everyone knows, you don't even need to look at the entry to know who to 'Forbidden Move'."

"Moreover, to achieve such misdirection, new Heroic Spirits are just the most basic condition. The key is the understanding and knowledge of the Heroic Spirits' legends. Only by fully understanding the legends of the Heroic Spirits can you construct such 'correct' yet 'incorrect' entries!"

In the live broadcast room, the commentator York looked at the bullet comments filling the screen and continued his commentary, "Ability. The fact that this new Dragon Country Strategist can construct entries like this is his ability."

"But what I care about more is his calm mindset and wisdom in the face of danger."

"A few words made the Sakura Country Strategist Saku Kenichi withdraw the curtain. He didn't want that 'Daddy' call, but instead rationally used the rules and human nature to turn that 'Daddy' call into national destiny wagers. Combined with his words when misleading Saku Kenichi... The Dragon Country has truly produced an incredible genius Strategist!"