Chapter 850: Struggle for Hegemony 2.0 — Chess Warriors!

"Hahahaha! Those bastards finally stopped!"

Realizing Jia Rong had finally stopped, the Great Cauldron's generals all rejoiced, spurring their horses into a mad gallop.

One by one they vied to be first, charging up to Tang Luo.

Then, they abruptly halted.

Wait, something seems off!

Of course something's off. They'd chased for so long everyone had developed a conditioned reflex — a day without chasing left them uncomfortable all over; clearly they were on a military campaign, yet inexplicably it had turned into a "race."

Jia Rong's cavalry had become the pursuit's target and finish line.

Compared to before when at best they could only watch from afar, most of the time not even eating dust, now they were right before their eyes.

They should be delighted.

But don't forget, this isn't a real race — they came to wage war.

Because Jia Rong led his men running too fast, never catching up created that "you flee, I chase" situation.

Jia Rong — could it be he really can't beat them?

Without a doubt, the answer is no.

Do the Great Cauldron's Three Kings fear Tang Luo? To say they're wary is certainly true, but to say they fear him...

A Supreme Grandmaster can indeed cause very, very great trouble, but for him to single-handedly destroy the Great Cauldron is impossible.

The Great Cauldron has many capable men and fierce generals; they feel that if they unite, paying the price they absolutely can kill this Supreme Grandmaster.

But that's built on the foundation of thorough preparation.

Absolutely not the current run-run-run, suddenly stop and directly engage in this kind of "meeting engagement."

Under these circumstances, even if the Three Kings' fierce generals unite, there's only one outcome: crushing defeat.

"Cough." Sun Quan rode over. "How many men do you have?" On the Wu side he took the lead.

Xiahou Dun, Wei's commander-in-chief: "Forty thousand."

"Thirty thousand plus some." On the other side Guan Yu spoke.

"So roughly one hundred thousand total." Sun Quan nodded. One hundred thousand elite cavalry versus ten thousand cavalry opposite.

A tenfold gap — that should be a flat push, right? Premise being, the man at the very front isn't "Transcendent Jia Rong."

If they fight now, they'll definitely lose; the only suspense is how badly they'll lose.

Whether they lose with some dignity, or with none at all.

Running is impossible; leaving aside whether they can escape, ten thousand cavalry chase Jia Rong, catch up, then slink away in retreat?

That's the zero-dignity way to lose.

Even dying to the last man is better than turning tail and running, being hunted down.

"Has Lu Bu arrived?" Sun Quan asked.

If Lu Bu came, everyone would at least have some confidence to temporarily hold Jia Rong.

Surround-and-attack isn't better with more people; before a Supreme Grandmaster, a hundred-thousand army and a ten-thousand army truly make no difference.

Even Guan Yu, a Grandmaster, cannot withstand the pressure of facing Jia Rong head-on.

There must be a mainstay, like a ship's keel.

"... Don't think so." A group of people, very awkward.

What to do now?

While they hesitated, the military order was already passed down; the rear cavalry had formed a charge formation — once the pre-battle duel ended, they could charge and hack at each other.

"Cough, everyone been well lately?" Tang Luo rode forward, opening his mouth to ask.

No one answered him. Been well lately? Well my ass — ate nothing but dust, finally caught up, only to find they can't win.

Stuck on a tiger's back, hard to dismount — you call that well?

"Guan Yun Chang! Challenges the Mystic Venerable!"

After a silence, Guan Yu rode forward, cupping his fists.

"Oh." Tang Luo nodded, scanning the generals. "I thought it over — you all come at once."

"What?"

Surround-and-attack isn't shameful; most of the Great Cauldron's martial powerhouses are battlefield fierce generals — they all understand "all's fair in war."

But a pre-battle duel cannot be a group attack.

Their planned surround-and-attack would only be executed after a melee broke out.

"You all come at once — Guan Yu, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao..." Tang Luo began naming names, including Sun Ce; everyone's name was called by him. "If you've got the guts, come fight me!"

The last sentence employed the Mockery skill.

A group of people's eyes instantly reddened. To hell with the pre-battle duel — against this "heretical evil" there's no need for any code of honor.

"Kill!"

Led by Guan Yu, everyone charged at Tang Luo.

A few seconds later, men toppled, horses overturned; likewise led by Guan Yu, everyone was sent flying backward, smashing into the ground.

Summarize the whole scene: "They A'd in, they GG'd out."

Extremely simple and clear: Tang Luo sat on his horse, one move "Glazed Nirvana Great Palm Seal," ended the battle at extreme speed.

To outsiders, he just raised his hand and slapped; a faintly visible giant palm shadow emerged, like swatting bugs he slapped everyone away.

The scene fell dead silent; no one spoke.

Ao Yu Lie transmitted a message to Sun Wukong in the sky: "Senior Brother, what exactly is Master's strength now?"

Lying in the cloud layers, having swapped his peach for a banana, Sun Wukong said: "Don't know, can't see through it."

"Can't see through?" Ao Yu Lie exclaimed excitedly. "As formidable as the Buddha Ancestor?"

"Hmm..." Sun Wukong pondered for a moment, "If that palm strike back then were replaced by Master as he is now, this old Monkey would still have been unable to block it back then."

What he spoke of was the palm strike that pinned him beneath Five Finger Mountain.

"Oh." Ao Yulie nodded, "Master said when he turned into a child that he had fully recovered, and was no lesser than the Buddha."

Didn't expect he lied; now he's no lesser than the Buddha.

The current Tang Luo naturally hasn't reached his peak state; the signs are twofold: one, he hasn't fully "come of age" yet; two, look at his white hair — when he reaches his absolute peak, the white hair will turn black again.

Tang Luo's white hair is white hair that appeared after he was damaged; it belongs to the "scar" type.

"Who knows, maybe Master is considering the current Tathagata?" Sun Wukong said.

The Mountains and Seas Realm shattered, heaven and earth underwent a massive change; no one dares guarantee what kind of fate anyone will have.

Sun Wukong was injured, Yang Jian was injured, but they are the type who rise stronger after being broken, able to climb another level.

In comparison, Nezha is different; similarly injured, he can only recover to his former strength and cultivation; Zhu Bajie is about the same.

As for more "old acquaintances" or old friends who don't count as close, it's even more miserable — they can't even recover to their former peak.

There are also special ones like Manjusri, who walked out another path.

Tathagata, the Grand Supreme — those super big shots who were already immeasurably high in the Mountains and Seas Realm back then — what is their situation now?

Who dares guarantee they haven't advanced further? Don't forget, behind those two "progressives" Yang Jian and Sun Wukong are traces of the Grand Supreme, Tathagata, and Patriarch Subhuti meddling.

"The world is so big, good thing I run fast." Ao Yulie exclaimed.

His next goal in this dragon life is to run even faster.

Faster, faster, and even faster.

"One general's success is built on ten thousand withered bones."

Here, Tang Luo, who had slapped a whole group of fierce generals flat with one palm, began his performance: "Prosper, the commoners suffer; perish, the commoners suffer. Do you know you were wrong?"

Although Guan Yu and the others fell in a very sorry state, to say they had overly heavy injuries, they didn't.

The taunt effect from being slapped by a palm disappeared; one by one they stood up, watching "Jia Rong" perform.

"Wrong about what?" Sun Quan asked.

"Wrong in letting the world fall into war for your own selfish desires." Tang Luo said, "Your Great Ding's Three Kings Strife — how many people died?"

"..." Sun Quan didn't speak.

It wasn't that he fell into deep thought; this kind of bullshit talk definitely couldn't shake the hearts of these fierce men.

The compassionate don't command troops; battlefield fierce generals — whose body isn't stained with blood?

Rather, Tang Luo's fingers twitched, a clear warning to Sun Quan: you keep yapping and I'll make a move; now stand there obediently and listen to me.

A wise man doesn't suffer immediate losses; battlefield tough guys can bend and stretch — and Sun Quan actually isn't as fierce as the others; he's more the strategizing type.

"Of course, a great man alive doesn't eat from five cauldrons, dead he's cooked in five cauldrons." Tang Luo said, "What I want now is for you to lay down the weapons in your hands, remove your armor and return to the fields, never to stir up war again — that's also an impossible thing."

"But I just happen to want world peace; what do you say we should do?"

Dangerous eyes swept across everyone one by one, like a massive mountain peak descending from the sky, hovering above each person's head.

Kill everyone, then there won't be war, world peace achieved.

No one doubts that Jia Rong's next line would pop out with something like that.

"Look at you, you're clearly human, yet you only know how to fight back and forth to decide victory or defeat? Simply like a bunch of monkeys who only know how to wave sticks." Good thing he didn't.

The monkey in the sky who only knows how to wave sticks frowned, frowned very tightly.

"What is the biggest difference between humans and animals?" Tang Luo despised them utterly, "It's wisdom! Why must you fight like animals over a piece of territory? Haven't you ever thought of switching to another way?"

"What way?" Zhang Fei couldn't help asking, his voice thief-loud.

"Good!" Tang Luo clapped his hands, pointing at Zhang Fei, "Little Zhang, this question is well asked! Vying for hegemony over the world, contesting the Central Plains, I desire to be king — if not war, then what?"

"Here, I sincerely introduce to all of you a brand new way to vie for hegemony over the world —"

As the words reached here, Tang Luo took out Xuan Bian, transformed it into a sword; in an instant, his left hand became a blur of afterimages.

Sword light biting cold, sword qi crisscrossing.

On the ground beside him, he drew a chessboard — a Xiangqi chessboard.

Seeing this chessboard, someone suddenly remembered: that night of the full moon, atop the Forbidden City, Jia Rong had first played a game of chess with Lu Bu, and it was Xiangqi, not the more high-class Weiqi.

At that time, no one understood the deep meaning of this act, but it also set off a Xiangqi craze.

After all, it was something the current world's top two experts had done; inevitably some would imitate.

Turns out the foreshadowing was buried long ago, all for today's matter.

But, playing Xiangqi to vie for hegemony over the world? Aren't you just teasing us?

Why don't you say composing poetry, guessing fingers to vie for hegemony over the world?

"Rest assured, it definitely won't be ordinary Xiangqi." Facing the many puzzled expressions, Tang Luo said, "This is 'Killing-Man Xiangqi'!"

" 'Killing-Man Xiangqi' where living people serve as chess pieces to decide victory or defeat." Tang Luo looked at Sun Quan and the others, "You want to vie for hegemony over the world, fair enough, but using all living beings as pieces, hundreds of thousands of soldiers dying each year — not good. Better to use yourselves as pieces; that is the true 'victor becomes king, loser becomes bandit'!"

"Marching and warring, two armies facing off, great armies slaughtering — this kind of heavy death toll, violent and lacking wisdom, unable to highlight human intellectual superiority, this backward and decadent way of vying for hegemony. From today on, it will be eliminated."

"But wisdom alone won't do either; if warriors don't fight, what's the point of cultivating martial arts?"

"So here, I specially push out the vying-for-hegemony 2.0 version — Chess Warriors!"

"Playing chess to vie for hegemony over the world — who agrees, who opposes?"

Cooking saves (the hegemony) world, playing cards saves the world, singing saves the world, playing games saves the world.

Playing chess naturally works too.