Chapter 1762 - 1362: No More Leeks to Harvest! Mutated Dongfang!
The main reason for this phenomenon was that as more and more Players were eliminated from the tournament, the number of Players who continued to participate kept shrinking.
Accordingly, the number of people who would cram at the last minute to improve their Martial Arts Realm would also begin to plummet.
And most people, as long as they could improve their Martial Arts, would have already contributed all their Cultivation Points and Potential Points during the initial period.
Therefore, by the time the tournament reached its final stage, the more the Players faced the situation of being squeezed dry into bare chive stalks, the less there was to squeeze out; by then, a rather strange scene would appear:
That was, the World’s No.1 Martial Arts Tournament would become even more explosive and eye-catching thanks to one intense final after another, yet Jiang Dali, the "banker" secretly manipulating the tournament from behind the scenes, would instead be facing an awkward situation of having "no chives left to cut," forming a very stark case of polarization.
However, as the saying goes, if the east isn’t bright, the west will be.
Although the elite chives on the side of the World’s No.1 Martial Arts Tournament were gradually approaching their end because they were slaughtering each other and getting eliminated, a new batch of tender chives who had recently entered the Comprehensive Martial World had already grown fat at a rapid pace during this period; some had even begun learning Martial Arts and contributing Cultivation Points.
This third batch of new Players was different from the previous two. They only entered after the Mixed Martial Arts World had been thoroughly explored and matured by the Players, so they avoided many detours.
Especially the more than two million new Players who joined Black Wind Village; Jiang Dali had long issued "newbie guidance quests" to every sub branch, arranging a full one-stop package as neat as could be, practically achieving a foolproof AFK leveling experience, a worry-free service that helped the new Players who joined the Mountain Village grow at the fastest speed, taking fewer detours and more shortcuts.
As a result, out of the total eighty to ninety million Cultivation Points and Potential Points recently, at least more than ten million were contributed by these Players who had newly joined the Mountain Village.
Moreover, according to statistics, the number of new Players currently learning Martial Arts accounted for less than one-fifth of the more than two million Players, leaving enormous Potential still to be tapped.
Jiang Dali held very high expectations for this newly developed, vast field of chives.
After all, the more than two million new Players far exceeded the mere one hundred thousand people Black Wind Village once had by more than twenty times. The Potential was immense; this was a big piece of fat meat he had reasonably and legitimately bitten off from the mouths of the Four Families through bidding, and it would also be his greatest support when raising his Returning to the True Martial Arts Realm in the future.
He carefully observed for half an hour the recent movements of the chives, then took a look at the many Players heading to the Ten Thousand Great Mountains of Han Country to participate in the "aid Qin Shi Huang" quest.
Seeing that the forces of the Four Great Families were also all rushing over in a great hurry, looking like dogs running a thousand miles just to eat shit, with quite the "big move" posture, Jiang Dali smiled inwardly: "I just love you hidden dragons and crouching phoenixes of the families, proactively taking the lead and pulling the strings for me."
He immediately exited the forum in satisfaction.
After the World’s No.1 Martial Arts Tournament, the aid Qin Shi Huang main quest was very likely to become another harvesting point for him, linking the previous and the next, forming a perfect closed loop of chives self-produced and self-sold.
Even though this aid Qin Shi Huang quest was basically impossible for any Player to complete.
Over time, with no results, or after large groups of Players were repeatedly smacked down several times by the Divine Dragon, many Players who tasted no sweetness and only got themselves covered in trouble would lose interest.
But at this current stage, the Players who were extremely curious about new things, especially wilderness Divine Beast BOSSes, seeing the Four Great Families all going to join in the fun, naturally wouldn’t choose to rationally pull out.
Instead, with a fluky mindset of "there must be benefits to be had," or a death-seeking mindset in search of fresh thrills, they were shouting to form parties and open raids all over the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, charging forward in an endless stream, poking into every nook and cranny in search of viable quest points.
After all, the quest rewards he offered weren’t bad. They not only involved goodwill from him, the Black Wind Village Chief, and Friendship Points with Black Wind Village, but also included Qin State reputation he had promised Qin Shi Huang on Qin Shi Huang’s behalf, as well as Qin Shi Huang’s goodwill and other rare and precious rewards...
It was just that what he promised was his business; whether Qin Shi Huang acknowledged it or not was Qin Shi Huang’s business and had nothing to do with him, the Black Wind Village Chief. If Qin Shi Huang didn’t acknowledge it, then it was this so-called Eternal Emperor himself going back on his word. He, the Black Wind Village Chief, though a robber leader, was a man of his word—if he said he’d give goodwill, he’d give goodwill. Absolute credibility, fair to all ages.
Drawing his thoughts back, he exited the Jianghu Forum.
Jiang Dali’s scattered mind instantly returned to his sea of consciousness. He was just about to consider whether to use his current Cultivation Points and Potential Points to do a little death-seeking and attempt a breakthrough to the Breakthrough Realm, since it was not his style to refuse to try just because someone said "dangerous."
But in that instant, his Spiritual Sense suddenly detected an extremely faint noise in the forest, as slight as ants fighting.
"Who’s there?"
His ears twitched, and in the instant his mind focused, all the sounds of wind outside, the murmuring of streams, and the sound of leaves falling to the ground all blurred away, while that footstep sound, originally as tiny as ants fighting, instead became extraordinarily clear, especially peculiar.
"You can still notice me even while you’re in a Divine Fragment state... hehehe... what were you thinking about?"
A female voice that was familiar yet somehow strange suddenly sounded from the left rear. Jiang Dali’s eyes snapped open. Without needing to turn his head, his gaze "turned a corner," and he saw a dainty young woman standing behind him. Her bearing was outstanding, full of pride, yet she didn’t lack in graceful charm.
Her hair was tied up high in a black crown. She wore a distinctive red wide robe. The wide sleeves were rolled up from the cuffs to her elbows, revealing her fair and elastic forearms. Her robe had no lapel seam; the front was trimmed with a fiery red border yet left unbuttoned, revealing an extremely richly embroidered chest wrap in bright, vivid red. Then looking at the long belt at her waist embroidered with the words "Sunrise in the East, I alone am undefeated," there was also a wine gourd tied to the back of the belt, pressed against her perky butt. Her slender waist looked as if it couldn’t be encircled by a single arm, yet somehow exuded an indescribable, boundless domineering aura.
"You..." Jiang Dali’s eyes widened at once, his expression stunned. He especially focused on this woman’s fair, elegant neck and her rising chest; from her facial contours to the curves of her Body, all of it was graceful and alluring, even more soft and charming than the other day, brimming with endless allure. Under her fine, silky brows, a pair of bright eyes carried a very familiar heroic vigor. He couldn’t help exclaiming, "Dongfang, what the hell are you pulling?"
"Hehehehe..."
With a flash of red, Dongfang Bubai, carrying a waft of fragrance, approached, circled Jiang Dali halfway, then lightly alighted upon a branch in front of him, her figure rising and falling with the branch. Her three thousand strands of black hair spilled in the wind. She casually took the wine gourd at her waist and tossed it to Jiang Dali, speaking calmly:
"Above Heavenly Person Transformation is the Mother of All Yin Realm. You say I’m pulling some trick—do I not look beautiful now?"
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(Got up a bit after seven this morning, did renovation work until five in the afternoon before I could start writing, still haven’t eaten yet, sob! Begging for some monthly tickets! I’ll try to work overtime at midnight.)