Chapter 212 : Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear and the Official Offline Exchange Event!
Chapter 212: Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear and the Official Offline Exchange Event!
When Hang Yu embedded the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear into the Skill Tower,
the territory gained another publicly available Blue-quality skill in addition to The Martial Saint’s Three Strikes.
The learning requirements for this cultivation skill were far too high.
For players, it was a distant goal beyond reach.
However, having such a lofty skill standing at the top could better motivate players to work harder to improve themselves.
【Abyssal Essence Points -3,000,000!】
Hang Yu learned the skill.
Countless pieces of knowledge, theories, experiences, and memories surged into his body like a tidal wave.
【You have comprehended “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear”!】
This profound and complex spear art, which even a genius would require at least twenty to thirty years to master, was instantly comprehended and fully integrated by Hang Yu in a single moment.
“So this is the Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear? As expected, it’s an excellent spear art!”
Its current detailed information was as follows:
【Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix】, Blue-quality cultivation art. Current Skill Level: 1. Permanent Agility +250, Permanent Strength +80. After activating the cultivation art, consumes 200 Mana per minute. Weapon Attack +100, Attack Speed +100, Movement Speed +50, Agility +50. All subordinate skill cooldowns -25%, all skill costs -20%, all subordinate skill effects +15%!
Judging from the attribute bonuses provided by the cultivation art,
Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear was an agility-focused cultivation art.
The Furious Flame Tyrant Blade that Hang Yu had personally created and comprehended was a strength-focused cultivation art.
In terms of total attribute bonuses,
Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear provided significantly more than Furious Flame Tyrant Blade.
However, Furious Flame Tyrant Blade came with substantial fire-element attack bonuses, so its offensive power and damage output exceeded those of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear.
In simple terms—
The profundity and foundation of Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear actually surpassed the current Furious Flame Tyrant Blade.
It was an agility-based, attack-speed-oriented cultivation art with endless variations.
Meanwhile, Furious Flame Tyrant Blade had simpler techniques but far greater explosive power.
As for the techniques contained within Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear—
Hang Yu examined them and found that the cultivation art included more than a dozen subordinate skills.
Some he had already seen in combat.
Others he had barely witnessed before.
The spear art possessed three most powerful Blue-quality skills.
They were:
Hundred Birds Dance,
Hundred Birds Chasing the Phoenix,
Hundred Birds Protection.
Each of these three Blue-quality skills could be divided into two subordinate skills.
Hundred Birds Dance = Hundred Birds Leaving the Forest + Hundred Birds Movement Art.
Hundred Birds Chasing the Phoenix = Hundred Birds Returning to the Nest + Hundred Birds Thrust.
Hundred Birds Protection = Hundred Birds Entanglement + Hundred Birds Scattering.
All six subordinate skills were Green-quality.
Some of these skills could even be further divided into lower-level skills.
The entire spear art consisted of three Blue skills, six Green skills, and nine White skills.
A total of eighteen forms.
Not only was it incredibly sophisticated—
It was also highly practical.
Take the three highest-level techniques as examples.
Hundred Birds Dance combined movement techniques and spear arts.
By moving at extreme speed, it generated deceptive afterimages and launched dense, storm-like attacks from multiple directions.
Hundred Birds Chasing the Phoenix required a period of preparation.
Afterward, it condensed the momentum of thousands upon thousands of spear strikes into a single attack.
Combined with an ultra-fast, ultra-long-distance thrust, it unleashed a devastating charge against one or multiple targets.
Hundred Birds Protection was a defensive skill.
It instantly surrounded the user with spear radiance.
While simultaneously attacking targets in all directions, it could also deflect attacks and even most spells.
“What an incredibly useful spear art!”
With this exquisite spear art, Hang Yu’s combat style would become far more versatile and his overall combat power would rise to an even higher level.
Unfortunately,
the learning requirements and costs of this cultivation art were simply too high.
Not to mention the Calamity Army—even promoting it widely among the Azure Dragon Guard would be extremely difficult.
Otherwise, if such a powerful cultivation art could be rapidly spread on a large scale,
even if only a hundred or so Azure Dragon Guards mastered it,
the territory’s strength would increase tremendously.
Of course,
being difficult now did not mean it was impossible.
He could advance gradually.
Hang Yu planned to create several spear-art skill books related to Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear.
Once the spear techniques contained within it became widespread,
they would naturally lay the groundwork for the future dissemination of the complete spear art.
【Essence Points -1,650,000!】
【Your “Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear” has reached maximum level. Permanent Agility +460, Permanent Strength +140!】
Hang Yu did not hesitate.
The spear art was immediately raised to its highest realm.
The total attribute bonus provided by Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix Spear reached 600 points.
That was a full 100 points higher than Furious Flame Tyrant Blade!
Enough to allow an ordinary Tier-Three elite combatant to gain strength comparable to a commander of the same tier.
Even among Tier-Three Blue-quality cultivation arts,
it was exceptionally outstanding.
Its detailed information after reaching max level was as follows:
【Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix】, Blue-quality cultivation art. Current Skill Level: 10. Permanent Agility +460, Permanent Strength +140. After activation, consumes 500 Mana per minute. Weapon Attack +200, Attack Speed +300, Movement Speed +150, Agility +150. All subordinate skill cooldowns -70%, all skill costs -50%, all subordinate skill effects +40%!
Excellent!
Powerful!
Cultivating skills truly was one of the most effective ways to increase strength!
Hang Yu still possessed several Skill Stones.
Among them were Ground-Shrinking Art, Bloodthirsty Vine Curse, Assault Armor-Piercing Arrow, Instant Arrow Art, Whirlwind Slash, and others.
All of them had been obtained as loot from the recent campaign.
He did not embed all of these skills into the Skill Tower of the main city.
Because not every player would choose Luoshui Main City as their initial spawn location.
As the population increased and territorial expansion continued,
more and more new players would arrive.
Considering both city capacity and monster resource distribution,
it was necessary to spread newcomers across various locations for both efficiency and a better gameplay experience.
Under such circumstances,
Hang Yu could not concentrate all production facilities and Skill Towers within the main city.
Instead,
they should be distributed reasonably throughout the territory.
Following the successful conquest of New Wan City,
the territory’s Skill Tower construction limit increased by three.
Hang Yu planned to build one in White Tiger City and embed these skills into its Skill Tower.
If players from the main city wanted to learn these skills—
White Tiger City and Luoshui City were directly connected through teleportation.
They only needed to pay a small fee to teleport there.
Likewise,
when newcomers in White Tiger City accumulated enough Contribution Points,
they could also teleport to the main city to learn additional skills.
This would increase player mobility while also stimulating development outside the core city.
Decision made.
After leaving the Skill Tower,
Hang Yu did not immediately head to White Tiger City.
There was still another important matter to handle.
Near the Lord’s Fortress,
he selected an appropriately sized open area and took out a blueprint from his storage space.
【Blueprint: Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower】, Tier-Three Rare Building... Construction Cost: 120,000 Magic Crystals + 20,000 units of Tier-Three Material Essence.
This was one of the rewards obtained from the New Wan treasure chest.
The value of this blueprint was astonishing.
Even if listed on the trading market for over a million Magic Crystals,
wealthy buyers would certainly be interested.
Some might even sell everything they owned to purchase it immediately.
If Hang Yu brought this blueprint to Sacred Azure City,
its value would increase by at least fifty percent.
Possibly even double.
However—
He had absolutely no intention of selling it!
Buildings dedicated to cultivation were incredibly rare.
Hang Yu himself had instructed Xiao Ba to search the market for such blueprints.
Yet after several days,
there had been no results whatsoever.
That alone proved these rare buildings could not simply be bought with money.
“The construction cost is pretty outrageous too.”
Hang Yu clicked his tongue.
“Fortunately, I slowed down player recruitment and looted plenty of materials from New Wan City. Otherwise, the territory’s current finances and inventory wouldn’t have been able to afford it.”
The cost was high.
But entirely worthwhile.
The sooner such a building was constructed,
the sooner it could generate value.
Without hesitation,
he consumed the required Magic Crystals and materials.
A gigantic and intricate Starsea formation appeared beneath his feet.
Within it seemed to exist countless galaxies contained within grains of dust.
Under the gathering and creative force of some great power,
a tower-shaped structure gradually formed in midair before emerging from the formation and rising above the ground.
The Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower!
Construction complete!
Hang Yu examined the building before him.
It was two to three times taller than structures like the Skill Tower and Dao Comprehension Tower.
The entire structure appeared to be forged from an unknown obsidian-like material.
Countless starlike lights shimmered within it, creating an air of mystery.
【Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower】, Tier-Three Rare Building. Can accommodate up to 2,000 territorial units simultaneously. Occupants receive at least 100 times the cultivation speed of a normal environment.
The Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower functioned somewhat similarly to the Skill Training Rooms within a Skill Tower.
A Skill Tower already integrated learning, training, and transmission functions.
That was why it was considered one of the territory’s most basic structures and could be summoned directly through the core without a blueprint.
However,
there were far too few training rooms inside a Skill Tower.
Furthermore,
those training rooms primarily assisted skill cultivation and were not ideal for improving overall cultivation.
The Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower Hang Yu had just created was vastly more powerful.
Its enhancement effects were tremendous.
Most importantly,
it could simultaneously accommodate two thousand units.
Most importantly of all—
The Cultivation Tower directly generated Essence Points.
In a sense,
it was an enormous Essence Spirit Field.
It continuously produced Essence Points.
Although these Essence Points could not directly enter the territory reserve,
they could be used to strengthen and improve territorial citizens.
One day spent cultivating inside the tower
was equivalent to over one hundred days of cultivation in a normal environment.
If an ordinary native citizen could normally refine 100 Essence Points per day,
then within the tower they could refine 10,000 per day.
Theoretically,
a single Cultivation Tower could generate twenty million Essence Points of value every day.
What a staggering figure!
That was why Cultivation Towers were so valuable and nearly impossible to obtain.
Of course,
this figure was merely an example.
The actual value generated depended on many factors,
including the cultivator’s tier and aptitude.
Nearly every major lord territory contained numerous cultivation facilities.
Their importance even surpassed production buildings like Spirit Fields.
For ordinary lords,
there were many ways to acquire Magic Crystals.
Essence resources, however, were incredibly precious and easily consumed.
A building like a Cultivation Tower could save tremendous amounts of Essence expenditure while accelerating military development.
Naturally,
Hang Yu did not plan to open the Cultivation Tower to players for the time being.
On one hand,
players possessed immortality and Heavenly Dao’s Blessing.
Grinding monsters was already a faster growth method.
It offered better efficiency, superior gameplay experience, and most importantly generated income for the territory.
On the other hand,
these summoned players possessed relatively mediocre aptitudes.
With their gamer mentality,
it was unlikely they would spend long periods cultivating in isolation within the tower.
The first beneficiaries of the Cultivation Tower would naturally be the Azure Dragon Guard.
Beyond them,
Hang Yu’s trusted aides, employees, and native citizens would also qualify.
Figures such as Wen Pin, Zhou Cang, and Zhang Zhongjing already possessed exceptional aptitude.
For people like them,
a Cultivation Tower was a priceless sacred cultivation ground.
The territory’s population and military continued to expand.
And these “NPCs” in the eyes of players also needed growth opportunities.
Everyone deserved room to rise.
However,
if Hang Yu personally spent Essence Points cultivating them,
the cost would become astronomical as the population increased.
Even he could not afford that.
The Cultivation Tower would alleviate some of that burden.
For every territorial citizen,
it was a tremendous blessing.
Of course,
unless they were important confidants or elite guard units,
the Cultivation Tower would not be free.
Other citizens would need to spend Contribution Points to use it.
This allowed Contribution Points held by NPCs to be recycled.
At the same time,
more people could enjoy cultivation bonuses.
These native citizens would also become more motivated to work hard and earn merit.
Hang Yu believed that publicly displaying such a tower within the territory
would create an irresistible attraction for most natives.
It would strengthen the loyalty and stability of local factions such as the Extreme Yin Sect.
It would also serve as a highly visible bargaining chip when recruiting future talents and factions.
One Spirit Gathering Cultivation Tower was still not enough.
He needed to find more cultivation-type buildings.
This would ensure not only the growth of the Calamity Army,
but also allow outstanding territorial citizens to rise through the ranks.
Hang Yu increasingly felt that his Essence resources were still insufficient.
Recent campaigns had yielded tremendous rewards.
Yet when spending freely,
the resources still felt inadequate.
He had merely upgraded all Azure Dragon Guards to Tier Three,
distributed two large-scale player rewards,
and mastered two Blue-quality cultivation arts.
Already,
his remaining Essence reserves were running low.
It was necessary to further increase income.
Fortunately,
starting tomorrow,
more than a thousand new Calamity Army recruits would descend every day.
Ten days later,
the Calamity Army would reach a total size of fifteen thousand players.
Before long,
income would skyrocket.
Hang Yu felt that earning ten to twenty million Essence Points per day under normal conditions was not far away.
That already sounded outrageous.
Yet he was far from satisfied.
He believed additional methods of increasing revenue were necessary.
For example—
Restricting high-level players from farming low-level monsters.
More and more players were reaching Tier Three.
These Tier-Three players were already quite powerful.
If they chose to grind Level 4 or Level 5 monsters,
it would undoubtedly be safer and more stable.
However,
that clearly conflicted with the territory’s interests.
First,
high-level players farming low-level monsters rarely died.
If players did not suffer,
how could the territory harvest its leeks?
If everyone chose safety,
territorial development would inevitably suffer.
Second,
if high-level players monopolized all monster zones near Luoshui City and White Tiger City,
the growth speed of the ten thousand incoming new players would be severely affected.
The situation had not yet occurred.
But prevention was necessary.
As the game designer,
Hang Yu needed to plan ahead.
He intended to intervene through Essence Point rewards.
For example,
if a Tier-Three player killed Tier-Two monsters more than five levels below them,
Essence rewards would be reduced by at least twenty-five percent.
If they hunted Tier-One monsters,
Essence rewards would be reduced by at least fifty percent.
Once profits dropped,
motivation would naturally decline.
After all,
the Calamity Army was composed of an extremely greedy bunch who never acted without profit.
This provided at least three major benefits.
First,
low-level players would no longer need to worry about monster resources being monopolized.
Their growth would become more stable and efficient.
Second,
high-level players would be forced to explore more dangerous regions and challenge stronger monsters.
This would naturally increase death rates and territorial income.
Finally,
Hang Yu’s own revenue would become higher and more diversified.
As for whether it was feasible—
Absolutely.
Hang Yu possessed two relics:
The Heavenly Dao Cube and the Treasure Gathering Spirit Pearl.
Xiao Ba functioned as a super artificial intelligence whose computing power surpassed all of humanity combined.
It could monitor and evaluate every player's status.
Meanwhile, the Treasure Gathering Spirit Pearl could instantly retrieve loot from anywhere within the territory.
With these two relics working together,
collecting such additional taxes would be effortless.
In Hang Yu’s view,
there were countless ways to tax the Calamity Army and territorial development.
Yet taxation itself was not the core goal.
The true objective was healthy and efficient territorial growth.
These matters required careful planning.
Hang Yu suddenly felt that there were simply too many things he needed to do.
More than ever,
he recognized the importance of recruiting civil officials and strategists.
As the territory expanded,
government affairs multiplied.
As supreme ruler,
he had no need to personally oversee every trivial matter.
Many tasks could be delegated.
He only needed to control the overall strategic direction.
“If only I had the assistance of people like Wolong and Fengchu.”
Hang Yu could not help but sigh.
Wolong and Fengchu were certainly unavailable for now.
However,
Jia Xu from New Wan City should not be inferior.
Unfortunately,
Jia Xu remained asleep.
Hang Yu had already ordered the people of the Extreme Yin Sect to report immediately the moment Jia Xu awakened.
…………
Meanwhile,
in the real world.
Gu Zhou was undergoing rehabilitation training.
As someone who had suffered from high-level paraplegia for many years,
modern medicine had long declared that he would never walk again.
Yet Gu Zhou could clearly feel that ever since he started playing *This Twisted Three Kingdoms Game Is Brutally*,
his body had gradually begun changing.
Even large portions of his body that had been numb for years were slowly regaining sensation.
It could only be described as—
A medical miracle.
Although he still could not stand,
there were unmistakable signs of recovery.
The game had given Gu Zhou far more than hope.
As one of the earliest closed beta players,
he had been playing for only a little over two months.
Yet through the game alone,
he had already earned over ten million yuan.
Not only had he paid off all of his family’s debts,
but their quality of life had improved dramatically.
His parents had even quit their jobs to support his gaming career full-time.
Everything felt like a dream.
At that moment—
Someone knocked on the door.
His mother entered.
“Xiaozhou, Boss Ye’s people have already arrived downstairs. Are you ready to leave?”
“Let’s go.”
Recently,
all veteran players had received invitations from the authorities.
According to the invitation,
an offline exchange event would be held.
The event would also gather data and feedback to help improve the game.
The matter had sparked significant discussion on the forums.
The reason was simple.
This time,
the authorities had not even bothered hiding their involvement.
They openly organized the event under the name of an official government department.
Lone Boat had personally received the invitation from an important local leader.
This completely confirmed the extraordinary background behind this epoch-making game filled with black technology.
Who could have imagined—
Without making any noise—
Such a massive project had been developed.
If one called it serious,
it was technically just a game.
If one called it unserious,
it contained countless incomprehensible black technologies.
Only a superpower-level nation could possibly have created something like this.
As of now,
representatives from the major legions had already announced that they would attend.
Although everyone was usually too busy gaming to waste time in reality,
this was the first event organized by the authorities.
The proper respect had to be shown.
Moreover,
everyone had countless questions about the game.
Perhaps important information would be revealed during the event.
Gu Zhou was naturally among the invitees.
When the official personally delivered the invitation,
he also brought a customized gaming helmet.
The helmet incorporated the latest technology.
It contained an independent power source and satellite network chip.
Even while traveling—or on an airplane—it could connect to the game at any time.
As a result,
traveling no longer seemed capable of interfering with gaming.
The authorities had clearly invested tremendous effort into ensuring the event’s success.
Since gaming would not be interrupted,
Gu Zhou had no objections.
He was deeply grateful to the creators of this great game.
Naturally,
he would not refuse such an event.
After learning that Lone Boat would be attending,
Ye Li Meng immediately arranged transportation for him.
Ten minutes later,
Gu Zhou’s father carried several large bags of luggage while his mother pushed Gu Zhou downstairs in his wheelchair.
A luxury business vehicle was parked outside the building.
A sharply dressed man and woman stood beside it respectfully.
“Are you... Lone Boat?”
“Yes.”
The two were instantly stunned.
Who would have imagined that the famous Lone Boat—
One of the most outstanding experts in the Calamity Army,
a top-tier ranger who had repeatedly slain powerful enemies amidst countless foes—
was, in reality, a young man suffering from severe paraplegia.
“Sorry for the rudeness.”
“We’re employees of the War God Hall. President Ye sent us to escort you to the airport. From there, we’ll take a private jet directly to the Magic Capital, where the event is being held.”
Hearing this,
Gu Zhou’s parents clicked their tongues in amazement.
A private jet?
The treatment was unbelievable!
No matter how they thought about it,
they could not understand how playing a game had led to visits from major officials and transportation via private aircraft.
The world had truly gone crazy.
After boarding the vehicle,
Gu Zhou asked,
“How long until we reach the airport?”
The male driver replied,
“About two hours.”
Gu Zhou nodded.
“Then I’ll log into the game for a while. Once we arrive, just press the wake-up button on the helmet and it’ll notify my in-game self.”
After speaking,
he took out a brand-new helmet.
It was the custom model provided by the authorities.
No power cable.
No fiber connection.
Usable anywhere.
Extremely convenient.
After putting it on,
Gu Zhou immediately launched the game.
A dozen seconds later,
inside a barracks of Luoshui Main City,
the ranger Lone Boat opened his eyes.
He stood up and stretched his body.
Amazing.
There wasn’t the slightest delay.
Modern technology was truly incredible.
A game of this scale could even be played outdoors, on airplanes, or aboard ships.