Chapter 405: Trend

Xie Yu shouted coldly, "Is it, or is it not?"

Chen Ran secretly wiped away cold sweat and hummed, "What does Fourth Senior Brother mean by this? In a Star Plate match, all things are pieces; the world situation is like a chessboard, changing every day. Where does the talk of good pieces and bad pieces come from?"

Xie Yu said angrily, "Those who are good at chess scheme for the Great Trend; those who are not good at chess scheme for the pieces! Junior Brother, your obsession with the pieces rather than the overall situation is a Great Evil!"

The so-called "those who are good at chess" are those who can utilize the Great Trend on the chessboard. Here, the "trend" refers to the changes in objective circumstances, the application of strategy and tactics, the deployment of enemy and friendly forces, and the developmental tendencies of things.

And "those who are good at chess scheme for the Great Trend" means that people who are good at playing chess always first grasp the overall trend of the chessboard's development, set up the "situation" that can sway victory or defeat, build the "framework," control the key "positions" and "nodes" that influence the development of the situation, and bring the direction of the chessboard into their own preset track, ultimately securing victory in one stroke.

Those who are not good at chess only scheme for the pieces. This refers to those who are not good at playing chess and only like to focus on the local area, haggling over the gains and losses of a single piece at a single moment, and sometimes even putting too much effort into one piece. Therefore, they often lose the big picture for the sake of the small, achieving half the result with double the effort, or even losing the entire game!

For those who are good at chess, the core requirement is a grand yet realistic goal orientation, along with both explicit and implicit global vision. The level of a chess player is usually measured and evaluated by "how their view of the overall situation is."

In the world of black and white, every super chess player is a master of having an extremely strong view of the overall situation and planning for the Great Trend; they do not seek for a single piece to stand out alone, yet one can see the trend surging!

As soon as these words were spoken.

These fellow disciples all changed color.

Great Evil!

In the Academy, this was a serious matter.

Chen Ran's eyes turned even colder: "You are my Senior Brother, which is why I respect you! This talk of Great Evil should be spoken with caution! The Greedy Wolf Star Plate is the layout of Liangshan! Among a group of barbarians, where does the talk of bad pieces come from? Is Senior Brother afraid that if I win this game, it will threaten your position?"

"Shut up!"

Xie Yu rebuked angrily, "My Wangbei Academy has many of the very barbarians you speak of!"

Chen Ran knew he had made a slip of the tongue and hurriedly said, "I am also doing this for the hundred-year situation of Liangshan; who wins and who loses is not yet certain!"

Xie Yu hummed coldly, "Do you know that today there is an intruder confusing the situation, and a single bad piece could destroy the foundation of our Academy?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed drastically.

"Senior Brother..."

"This, this, is it really that serious?"

"Impossible, he only brought a mere fifty thousand troops! Liangshan has millions..."

Xie Yu shouted, "Go find the Dean!"

At this, Chen Ran was finally scared silly, following behind Xie Yu with sweat dripping down.

At this moment.

Qiongdou.

The night was growing late.

Shama Zhuoyi, riding his horse, bypassed the distant mountains and Lugu Lake. At this time, that large, full moon, so common in Qiongdou, had already appeared in the sky.

Because of its altitude, temperature, sunshine, latitude, and longitude, and because there is little suspended matter in the atmosphere, Qiongdou has great air transparency. Therefore, the moon here has always been large and round, and thus, Qiongdou has long held the reputation of being the "Moon City."

The sound of horse hooves rang out under the moonlight.

Soon, Shama Zhuoyi arrived at the Yuexi Plain. Under the moonlight, a field surrounded by high walls appeared so eerie. Inside the walls were unknown plants over a meter tall, and the enchanting flower buds on those plants had already begun to bloom.

Taking a deep breath, Shama Zhuoyi kicked his horse's belly hard.

"Headman, the Headman is here!"

"Headman..."

If anyone were to see the situation here, they would be thoroughly frightened by the scene.

The men and women in this place were all gaunt, their eye sockets sunken, their skin dark, and their eyes unfocused. Before Shama Zhuoyi arrived, they were all listless, but when Shama Zhuoyi arrived, they all became spirited and jumped up.

"Throw him in!"

Shama Zhuoyi shouted coldly.

With a wail, the one thrown into this farm was none other than the burly man who had followed Aduerjia and lost the duel.

"No..."

"Headman, I, I can still fight... I still can!"

However...

The people here didn't even let him speak. When this group of people saw Shama Zhuoyi, they had all gone mad. In those gaunt bodies, they seemed to burst forth with astonishing strength, quickly pinning the burly man firmly to the ground. They jumped inside the high walls, shouting loudly, "Headman, grant us some Divine Medicine!"

"Headman..."

"I can still follow you into battle!"

"Headman, I am dying of discomfort... give me some Earth Smoke, give it to me..."

These people scrambled to be first. Some were already so uncomfortable that they were clawing at their own skin, even scratching bloody marks onto their bodies in their agony. Yet, even so, they seemed not to feel the pain, still looking longingly outside at Shama Zhuoyi, who was watching them coldly.

A cold light flashed across Shama Zhuoyi's face, and he chuckled, "Farm well, and whether it is Divine Medicine or Earth Smoke, you shall have it!"

"Grant them one pill each!"

The whole place cheered.

"How is the harvest this year?"

Soon, a dark-skinned man walked out from outside and followed behind Shama Zhuoyi, who asked indifferently.

The man smiled and said, "Headman, the harvest is excellent! It's just that, now this farm has more and more people, Headman..."

Shama Zhuoyi laughed coldly, "Is it bad to have many people? If there are many people, keep planting! Go southwest! The Horse Gang over in Jiannan will take as much Earth Smoke as we have!"

The man finally couldn't help but say, "Headman, if this continues, how will it end! People are dying here every day, dying every day! I have personally buried one hundred thousand of our Zhongkujiao's young and strong... that hillside isn't even big enough to bury them all anymore!"

"Slap!"

Shama Zhuoyi swung a palm, his eyes cold and sinister: "Are you teaching me how to do things? Hmm?"

"I wouldn't dare..."

Shama Zhuoyi said indifferently, "This is a gift from the heavens to our Daliang Mountain, understand? What are people? With this Divine Medicine, the Greater Bitter Horn, the Lesser Bitter Horn, sooner or later they will all be ours! The water sources will be ours! The men, the women, the children, they will all be ours!"

He became more and more frantic as he spoke: "I have a group of warriors who do not fear death; who could be our opponent?"

"Who?"

No one beside him dared to speak.

Ever since the immortal on the mountain began deciding to support Shama Zhuoyi, he had given him some seeds.

These seeds, which could grow bewitching fruits, made the people of the Medium Trouser Leg tribe go mad. A war that swept across the Liangshan region followed.

Soon, the Medium Trouser Leg tribe gained the upper hand, even slaughtering the Alu Clan, suppressing the Large Trouser Leg and Small Trouser Leg tribes, and successfully occupying Qiongdou.

However...

Behind this glory lay endless bloodshed and extinguished humanity.

Shama Zhuoyi continued to gallop in the moonlight.

Under this moonlight.

Inside the high walls, wails still filled the air, shrill as night owls.

"The Viscount's meaning is..."

Looking back at Liu Zheng's side.

Huobu Quli was already becoming agitated.

Liu Zheng smiled and said, "If you can unite with the Large Trouser Leg tribe and stir up some trouble during this Torch Festival, the Medium Trouser Leg tribe will undoubtedly be defeated!"

"Th-th-this..."

Huobu Quli was already plunged into shock.

For a long time, the impression the Medium Trouser Leg tribe had brought to these two tribes was that they were invincible, invincible, invincible in Liangshan!

Today...

This Viscount from Longyan had begun to overturn his perception of the Medium Trouser Leg tribe.

He took a deep breath: "Viscount, th-this, why is that?"

Liu Zheng smiled: "Because this is the momentum."