Chapter 226 - 141: December: Month of Chaos (2)
"Lord Li Hua, I can’t believe Lord Lin Yu is so deep in the forest. Have you ever been to his territory?"
"No, never. Lord Lin Yu has always sent his troops to my territory; I’ve never been to his. Besides, after he sealed off the adjacent forest back in April, I haven’t been able to get in."
"Lord Lin Yu cordoned off that entire massive forest. Do you think he can find all the treasure chests? I wonder if he’d let us go in and have a look for some."
"[eyeroll] If you claimed a piece of land that big, would you just give it away?"
"I’m just worried Lord Lin might not have gotten everything. It’d be a waste! Hehehe~"
...
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Mei Yuan’s territory was situated in a large basin. The heart of his domain lay in one corner of it, with gradually rising mountain ranges to the west and south. There were also mountains to the north and east, but vast plains stretched out before them.
At this moment, the plains were densely packed with tents, stretching on and on, resembling a boundless white ocean.
Soldiers were busily packing their belongings, making final preparations before setting out.
Within Mei Yuan’s walled city, a large crowd of lords, each with their own guards, had gathered in the central square.
Standing near Mei Yuan were about 50 lords. These were his core allies, all of whom had heeded his advice, personally entered the promotion structure, and advanced their own class by one tier.
On the outskirts were over two hundred other lords. For various reasons, they hadn’t chosen to upgrade themselves, but they were extremely interested in the idea of dragging the ranked lords down. Most of them had received a heads-up and hadn’t joined the Cuiwei Lord Corps, meaning that even if they attacked other lords, they wouldn’t face repercussions from the Cuiwei Star authorities.
"Lord Mei, the free-for-all has already begun. When are we going to attack?"
"Yeah, it’s early morning and a lot of lords haven’t caught on yet. We should strike now, we might make a huge score. It’d be perfect if we could get some blueprints to drop."
"Lord Mei, give the word! We’re all waiting for you to say something."
...
The lords on the periphery were growing impatient, eager to be let loose and wreak some havoc. Each of them had at least ten excellent-rank heroes who had been promoted to transcendent-rank.
In total, there were over 3,000 transcendent-rank heroes present.
The lords felt that their combined strength was terrifying; no lord at this stage could possibly withstand their assault.
Moreover, they knew that even if they took down some of the ranked lords, they had no hope of making the rankings themselves.
Attacking the ranked lords was, first, a way to vent their frustration at not making the list; and second, a hope that they might get some rare building blueprints to drop, which they could sell for points. Then, once they returned to Cuiwei Star, they would travel to distant planets to live out their days in leisure.
Thus, these peripheral lords had essentially abandoned their own territories. They had brought all their soldiers and heroes, ready to cash in on the spoils of war.
"Hold on. There’s no rush. We’ll wait for the scouts first," Mei Yuan said, calm and composed.
"What? Lord Mei, you’ve been preparing for this long and you haven’t sent out scouts yet?"
"Even if we scouted before, we need to confirm our intelligence now, don’t we? Do you want to fight or not? If you do, then shut your mouth!" one of the lords beside Mei Yuan snapped. The impatient lord from the outer circle immediately went quiet.
’The lords surrounding Mei Yuan were far stronger than those of them on the periphery. If the inner circle wasn’t in a hurry, then there was no reason for him to be.’
"What’s with the attitude? I was just thinking about what’s best for everyone," he muttered under his breath, retreating back to his own troops. Surrounded by a group of transcendent-rank heroes, his sense of security soared.
During the wait, the armies in the city had finished their preparations. They stood in neat formations, awaiting their respective lords’ commands. The night wind blew through the grand army, carrying a cold, solemn silence into the distance.
A thin crack in space materialized in front of Mei Yuan. His eyes lit up. He and the lords around him immediately began channeling their energy into the spatial rift, and their transcendent-rank heroes joined in as well.
Bit by bit, they pulled the spatial rift open. Finally, a transparent Flying Sentinel flew out. The rift then snapped shut with a SWISH.
The entire event was over in an instant. From the rift’s appearance to its disappearance, only two or three seconds had passed. The lords on the periphery hadn’t even noticed.
They only saw the lords in the center suddenly huddle together, seemingly discussing something in hushed voices they couldn’t possibly overhear.
Meanwhile, the lords in the center were communicating with the transparent Flying Sentinel using infrasound.
"Everything is ready? The quality of the troops here seems quite good."
"Yes, Sir. We are ready. All we’re missing are the plans for the Teleportation Array. Please, Sir, grant them to us! We will build the array at once and return to serve our lord."
"Haha, no need to call me Sir. Just call me Bess! My superiors have given their instructions. We can start by inciting a wave of slaughter here to weaken the strength of this Human Race. When the time is right, I’ll help you construct the Teleportation Array. For now, just get the materials ready."
"The primary materials include Basalt, Space Stones, and Adamantine..."
Bess began listing the primary materials needed to construct the Teleportation Array, and Mei Yuan and the others listened intently.
"Sir Bess," Mei Yuan said, his voice laced with worry, "the other materials are one thing, but none of the lords under our control have any Space Stones! And they aren’t sold on the market or in the points store, either."