Chapter 173 Land of Challenge (3K)_1

Translator: 549690339

To Mu Yuan’s surprise, the crucial item he vainly pursued yesterday had made progress today.

After turning off the bronze mirror used for communication, Mu Yuan used it as an ordinary mirror to tidy up his appearance and clothing, then headed towards a secret realm’s gate beside the Lord’s Altar.

Passing through the water curtain, a garden full of birdsong and floral fragrance suddenly appeared before his eyes.

There was no gathering today and there were few players in the secret realm. Only a few maid dolls in black and white skirts could be seen, busily sweeping with brooms.

He walked straight to the coffee shop, came to the familiar table by the floor- to-ceiling window in the deepest part of the inner space.

Here, he could not see the figure of Liu Xiyue, the Lord of Han Yue City, but the wealthy little girl Liu Miumiu was waving towards him.

“Big Boss, over here!”

Liu Miumiu spoke enthusiastically about her adventures and the state of territory management.

She said that she had already defeated two powerful monster tribes and had recruited and subdued an excellent three-star-level champion, ‘Shaman Chief of the MerPeople’.

“Well done, you’re really great.”

Mu Yuan sincerely praised her.

After all, he had only defeated a dozen monster tribes so far, and there were fewer than twenty three-star stage subordinates in his Tianyuan Territory. The gap between him and Liu Miumiu was small.

“Big Boss, you have to watch out. I will catch up with you.”

Liu Miumiu said seriously, but she felt helpless whenever she thought of Princess Fei Xi, who constantly talked about the Big Boss Tianyuan.

I’m the real lord here.

Although the Big Boss Tianyuan is indeed super awesome.

She paused for a moment, took out a mysterious and faintly glowing moon­shaped key, and handed it over, saying,

“This is the key to the Land of Challenge.”

She truly is a rich girl, able to get her hands on such a rare item so easily

Mu Yuan asked, “What’s the price?”

Liu Miumiu said: “No money is needed. This key was actually intended to be given to you by my sister. But she’s been too busy lately to come. My sister didn’t spend any money either. This key was given by the officials to potential lords… She just recommended you.”

Mu Yuan was surprised.

Does the Lord of Han Yue City actually have such high expectations for me?

He was very honest with himself, and he didn’t have much confidence. If the competition could be postponed for half a year, that would be a different story, but now the time is too short.

He, Mu Yuan, was just a civilian lord with a little bit of ‘talent1.

Seeing that Mu Yuan may have misunderstood, Liu Miumiu quickly added, “No no no, what my sister meant was, having the opportunity to freeload on a top- level secret realm key is definitely a must.”

She recalled the conversation she had with her sister yesterday.

‘Isn’t it too early, sis?’

‘Early? Maybe, but since it doesn’t cost anything, let him give it a try.’

‘But won’t he be hit hard? I heard the Land of the Challange is super difficult.’ Liu Xiyue glanced at her.

Her eyes were filled with contempt, helplessness, and the thought of ‘My adorably stupid little sister’.

Liu Miumiu completely understood.

‘This is why I didn’t give you the key and why there is a big gap between you and Tianyuan.’

‘Other people might be hit hard by prematurely entering the Land of the Challenge, but Tianyuan’s talent is not inferior to mine. I believe he will become stronger in adversity. The rewards from the Land of the Challenge may also help him progress more quickly.’

“My sister said that the key was obtained using the Dragon Court competition as an excuse, but the competition… Just keep a normal heart, after all, we are still young, and the number of troops in the territory is limited, let alone forming one or two complete elite legions.

“Besides, the Land of the Challenge is very difficult. Even you, Big Boss, may get… well, you may find it extremely difficult.”

She said clumsily.

Mu Yuan said he understood, “Don’t worry, I’ma very measured person. I won’t stubbornly push through if the challenge is too difficult. Our focus is still on building our territory.”

Liu Miumiu: “Yes, yes, yes.”

Afterwards, Mu Yuan queried about the general situations of lords like Wuji, Kong Ming, and others.

They basically all had two or three fully formed trump card legions. What is a fully formed legion? It refers to a legion formed entirely of rare soldiers, with their potential fully developed as elites, and numbering over one hundred. Such a legion, with a hundred soldiers could turn into a scalpel; with three hundred, they could move freely among the enemy; with a thousand, they could wipe out enemy forces that are tens or hundreds of times larger than their own.

The forces of a veteran lord are usually composed of ‘Trump Card Legions’ that are fully formed, ‘Ordinary Legions1 that are half trained and half wild, and ‘Cannon Fodder Legions’ that are basically not trained and are only used for reconnaissance and attracting firepower.

However, the somewhat inferior veteran lords have ‘Trump Card Legions’ that consist of a variety of rare soldiers, ‘Miscellaneous Brands’, as they cannot afford to assemble a single class, series or kind of rare legion.

The stronger ones assemble a legion with a single type of soldier to achieve better coordination, or they care about the combination of different types of soldiers to fight together.

In comparison to other territories where elite-level characters are common and professional-level ones are commonplace, his Tianyuan Territory is indeed a lot worse, with only a handful of elite-level strongmen.

“I really am too weak.”

After chatting for a while, Mu Yuan said goodbye to Liu Miumiu.

Standing in front of the Lord’s Altar, he saw a Secret Realm on either side of him, the previous Festival Grounds Secret Realm had disappeared as it had closed.

He took out the splendid crescent-shaped key, connected his thoughts with the territory, and activated it.

Vvooomm

A golden glow burst forth from the crescent, intertwining and outlining a mysterious golden archway, standing a dozen meters above the altar.

He moved towards the golden archway, walking as if stepping on invisible stairs, each step taking him higher, until he reached this extraordinary golden gateway of a secret realm.

The Land of Challenge!

This secret realm has a very high-end orientation, almost exclusively accessible to senior lords, but the Land of Challenge is also one of the most famous secret realms. There are many posts and rumors about it on the forum. Just as its name suggests, it is a challenge-type secret realm.

The ‘Newcomer Secret Realm of Challenge’ he had experienced in the past is a beginner-level secret realm, whilst the Land of Challenge is a top-tier secret realm.

It exists eternally, without any time constraints.

Similarly,

No one has truly ever reached the end.

Even to a top-level lord, this secret realm remains veiled in mystery, its depths unknown.

Mu Yuan crossed the spatial curtain. What greeted his eyes was a vast white platform, upon which an imposing Red Tower stood at the center of the massive platform. It appeared to be divided into about seven layers, flickering lights shimmering between each layer.

Looking further into the depth of the Red Tower, he could faintly see another equally majestic and spectacular Orange Tower, but it was extremely far away, veiled in haziness, as unreachable as the moon reflected in a water mirror.

‘The First Tower.’

Mu Yuan thought to himself.

Around the tower, he could vaguely see a dozen or so figures. However, they seemed very small and insignificant beneath the magnificent Red Tower. These people, more likely than not, were lords of the Xuan Country.

Just like the Newcomer’s Land of Challenge and the Festival Grounds, where different parallel secret realm spaces for different regions are demarcated, the Land of Challenge is similar.

But what’s different is that the further you go into the Land of Challenge, the more the spaces overlap. The lords he saw surrounding the Red Tower were only from the Tai Xuan region. If he were to enter the area of the Second Tower, he would be able to see Lord Shen Yao, along with other Lanxing Lords.

“Someone else is here.”

“He looks very young, and I don’t recognize him; he seems to be a newcomer.” “A newcomer? Finally, there’s a newcomer in the Land of Challenge, haha~!” The moment Mu Yuan entered, he attracted the attention of the senior lords. This place is very spacious. All lords of Tai Xuan who used the Key to the Secret Region would set foot here, but this place was small enough that sometimes they wouldn’t see a sweet newcomer even after 10 or 15 days.

They looked over.

The newcomer was dressed in a slim-fit dark blue robe, his hair somewhat long, bound up by a long crown. His features were clear and bright, like a handsome ancient aristocrat.

In the Eternal World, such retro-style dressing was mainstream and even more common among the older lords.

There was nothing extraordinary about this attire, except for the female lords thinking to themselves how handsome the young man was, and that he was their type.

Lord Shepherd actually did have muscles, but after integrating into the Duo Lai Template, his whole appearance leaned towards being slim and refined. He looked youthful… you could say that he looked younger than most elderly lords. He glanced around a few times and then headed straight for the Red Tower, his figure quickly disappearing into the entrance.

At the same time,

At the bottom of the Red Tower, on the first layer, a streak of light appeared, emitting a not-so-bright glow.

“As expected, he is a newcomer.”

The lord who saw this scene confirmed, “Guess how many levels this young newcomer can reach?”

This here is the Red Tower, also known as the First Challenge Tower, which has a total of seven levels. Only by passing all seven levels can one enter the second area, where the Orange Tower is located.

The Lord who spoke was wearing a sturdy suit of armor without a helmet. He had experienced eyes, and his untamed black hair was casually draped over his shoulders, not messy but exuding an air of unrestrained boldness.

He was a city lord, and a rather famous one at that in the vast Tai Xuan Alliance. Respectfully referred to as the Lord of Mojian.

He had entered the Land of Challenge several years ago and had been challenging for quite some time. However, he still hadn’t been able to pass the Red Tower.

It’s not that the Lord of Mojian was too weak, but rather that the difficulty of the top-tier secret realm in the Land of Challenge was too high. The majority of senior lords were stuck in this ‘First Tower Area’.

The friend of the Lord of Mojian, another senior lord known as ‘Lord Ying Guang’, shook his head, “Is there a need to guess? Of course, he can’t pass the first level. The newcomer looks too young; he must have entered the Eternal World not too long ago. At most two or three years.”

“You must know that even for the offspring of a Great Lord, they have to wait till they’ re at least sixteen before they can be selected. And there are many who only entered when they were eighteen, twenty, or even in their mid-twenties. But this young man, he looks to be not even twenty, right? He’s about my son’s age.”

Another friend, a female lord known by the title ‘Lord Bolan’, disagreed. She crossed her arms, “Old woman doesn’t believe it. I’ll bet that this cute newcomer can pass the first challenge! I support him!”

Despite saying so, Lord Bolan was just being stubborn.

As a lord who had passed the Red Tower, she knew very well that the Land of Challenge did not have any easy or welfare levels. It was a top-tier secret realm, so the initial difficulty level matched that—it was also top-tier!

Many talented lords came with full confidence, only to falter at the weakest and earliest challenges, being defeated by the monsters so badly they began to question their own worth.

There was even an instance where one of the lords was crying when he walked out of the tower.

Being lucky enough to obtain the key to the Land of Challenge, sometimes, wasn’t necessarily a good thing.

Hopefully, this cute and handsome young man won’t be hit too hard.