Chapter 726: Competition in the Central Plains

Longmen!
A name of majestic grandeur—a gang name that, in the Americas abroad, represents supreme power. Born in Chinatown, it was founded by a group of Chinese martial artists. Today, it is also the largest and most prominent gang in all of America…
Yet, globally, Longmen’s reputation pales in comparison to that of the First-Class Hall and the Heroic Gate of the Central Plains martial world.
There’s no other reason for this. In highly competitive environments, only evenly matched strong opponents make their struggles truly remarkable and entertaining…
It’s undeniable. Overseas Chinese, thanks to their understanding of Eastern traditional martial arts, know better than any American expert what they need and what their strengths are. So while many American players were still figuring out the game, they had already embarked on their path of improvement—training hard!
Yet some disciples from martial arts schools were even more adept, achieving twice the results with half the effort. Although they entered the game slightly later, they quickly followed the masters of the Central Plains martial world into the Era of Life and Death, becoming the dominant force in America!
Though there are many overseas Chinese, not many are in the game; most have joined a few major Chinese organizations… Longmen is one of the most representative and powerful among them.
Longmen!
It brings together instructors, masters, and disciples from three allied martial arts schools—a group of youthful and talented experts who, under the leadership of several respected seniors, control most of the resources in the American region.
Unfortunately, despite such impressive achievements, its global influence is limited. This is because Longmen lacks competitors; moreover, since the game was created by Chinese people and features mostly Eastern martial arts elements, many consider Longmen’s success to be inevitable.
But the Central Plains martial world is different…
Throughout the year, the Central Plains martial world is full of excitement and turmoil—starting from the celebration of the Emperor’s birthday, to the siege of Bright Summit, creating a resonance unmatched by other countries. Only the Central Plains can instantly ignite a craze for martial arts, allowing everyone to fully experience the charm of Eastern martial arts…
And among the most prominent figures at that time were the calm and unscrupulous Mengyun, the unconventional lone wolf Happy, Lu Mingyue who acted as a descendant of the Invincible East, and the mysterious and powerful One Emperor.

Together with martial arts masters from different eras and unique backgrounds, such as Zhang Wuji, Zhou Zhiruo, and masters from Shaolin and Wudang, they created a complex and thrilling martial arts world in the Central Plains.
As time passed…
The overseas Chinese forces should have continued to develop in their homeland and monopolized resources.
However, as more and more American forces ventured out to seek high-level equipment, weapons, as well as numerous advanced pills and martial arts secrets from the Central Plains, Longmen finally noticed signs that its position was weakening…
Although their influence and strength in America were unmatched, there were still many outstanding individuals in America whose influence was comparable to theirs.
Moreover, a small group of Chinese people could never take the bigger picture into account and fail to develop their entire martial arts system cohesively, just like those in the Central Plains. America’s blacksmithing and pill-making skills were also inferior to those in the Central Plains!
Yet these things were extremely important in the game…
For example, the Life and Death Dream Pill—only two of such pills had appeared in America so far, both as rewards from high-level missions, and no one in America had the ability to craft them.
It wasn’t the American forces that made Longmen wary…
It was the martial arts world of the Central Plains!
Many American forces invested large amounts of resources in the Central Plains to exchange for ready-made high-level weapons, equipment, and pills, reaping substantial profits. They then used those profits to acquire even more money and resources… The volume of trade was astonishing!
The leaders of Longmen gradually grew concerned.
If this continued, most of America’s resources would end up in the hands of the Central Plains martial arts world, leaving America severely short-staffed—lacking players with high-level life skills to produce weapons, equipment, and pills. On the contrary, the influx of resources from America would only widen the gap between the two sides…
By then, if the Central Plains martial arts world set its sights on America, they would be in a very difficult position!
…
A month ago, Longmen finally made a decision!
Return to the Central Plains!
…
“Are these people really from America?”
Inside the main hall of Lingxiao Palace, a group of elders and high-ranking officials who had heard the news stared in astonishment at the Chinese-looking players fighting and sparring with Li Qing and Haotian in the training hall, marveling at them.
Li Qing and Haotian were already among the most outstanding masters of Lingxiao Palace!
After losing the battle against the man in black, they were deeply shaken and spent their days fighting against masters at the Wuwei realm in the palace’s prison, trying to understand the mysteries of their martial arts and combat techniques.
These days, they had finally made some breakthroughs and insights…

But a group of people from the Americas, with just a few sent into battle, forced the two into a tough fight. In contrast, Shangguan Lian and Hai Dongqing, who had become much more low-key since Hao Tian joined, were still able to fight these people fairly, exchanging blows back and forth. The experts from Lingxiao Palace were stunned. Meanwhile, the Chinese people in the Americas all wore expressions of smug satisfaction, as if it were only natural. It wasn’t surprising they were so proud. Through daily hard training, they had already accumulated considerable experience and a solid foundation. When they entered the game, they had an innate advantage, and practicing martial arts came naturally to them. Along the way, they mostly used aggressive tactics to defeat stronger opponents. Now, their internal strength was no less than that of the experts on the Dragon List… The only difference was equipment. Most of the high-ranking members of Lingxiao Palace wore well-maintained third-tier equipment that shone brightly, but the Americas had only recently started large-scale mining, falling far behind. Yet in the eyes of the Chinese people in the Americas, most people here, aside from a few who could match them, were no match even if they had an equipment advantage! “The experts on the Dragon List are nothing but names on paper.” Two people in the group of Chinese Americans whispered to each other while watching the fight: “I think… we can definitely go with the second plan.” The first plan was for the experts from Longmen to enter the Central Plains, attach themselves to Lingxiao Palace’s subordinates, and use the favorable environment of the Central Plains martial world to train a group of advanced blacksmiths and alchemists, while establishing long-term cooperative relationships. As for the second plan… it was more ambitious! It involved Longmen setting up branches in the Central Plains martial world, finding a suitable representative, and staying in the Central Plains to compete for dominance. After seeing the strength of Lingxiao Palace, one of the four top gangs, many people from Longmen were secretly resentful… including the two in the group. With such strength, they could rank among the top in the Central Plains. If Longmen established a foothold there… Hmph! Just then, someone suddenly rushed in from outside, hurrying toward the Qin Yun sisters on the front steps.