Qi Xia and Chu Tianqiu turned around to look at the light portal.

The interior of this light portal was pitch-black, swirling like a vortex, and to the naked eye it was impossible to discern where it led.

After the two hesitated for a moment, Qi Xia was the first to take a step forward, walking toward the light portal.

Without a moment’s hesitation, he stepped directly into the light portal. The portal, like a living creature with a soft body, expanded its form when Qi Xia entered, as if actively swallowing his figure inside.

Chu Tianqiu followed closely behind, being engulfed by that darkness at the same moment.

The Earth-Dragon watched as the two entered one after another, then also stepped into the portal herself.

Before Chen Junnan and Qiao Jiajin could step forward to ask a few questions, the person-high light portal suddenly vanished without warning in mid-air.

“Damn…” Chen Junnan cursed softly, turning his head to look at Qiao Jiajin and Yan Zhichun. The three of them didn’t know what to do at this moment.

The Earth-Dragon had told everyone except the two commanders to wait here… but exactly how long would they have to wait?

It was clearly a “team” confrontation… yet the entire team couldn’t enter together.

…

Qi Xia opened his eyes to look at his current location. This was an extremely strange, vast space.

All around was incredibly dark, completely empty yet with no visible boundaries.

At this moment, beams of light shone down from above the positions where he, Chu Tianqiu, and the Earth-Dragon stood. In the darkness, it was as if there were three spotlights making them the focal points of this space.

The three people stood dispersed in a triangular formation, with a strange door standing behind the Earth-Dragon.

“You two.” The Earth-Dragon spoke first. “Welcome to ‘Cangjie Chess.’ I am the referee Earth-Dragon for this game.”

The two turned their heads to look around, neither saying anything.

“This is the first phase of this game: ‘Appointing Generals.'”

After speaking, she lightly waved her hand, and from the ground in front of each person rose an electronic screen that was rough and pitch-black like a blackboard.

Qi Xia reached out to touch the electronic screen and discovered that the places his fingertips brushed actually lit up in dazzling red, as if he could write on it.

“Next, I’ll explain the rules of ‘Appointing Generals.'” The Earth-Dragon said. “You two will take turns writing names to ‘Appoint Generals.’ The people selected will become your teammates for this game. Each side, including the ‘Commander,’ needs a total of seven people.”

“Write names…?” After hearing this, Chu Tianqiu also reached out and lightly traced on the electronic screen, activating a mass of tiny red lights.

“That’s right.” The Earth-Dragon nodded. “The electronic screens in front of you two are specially made. The cathode ray tubes inside light up when heated, which happens to allow you two to write names.”

“Using red font to write teammates’ names isn’t very auspicious, is it?” Chu Tianqiu smiled.

“Ha…” The Earth-Dragon was amused by Chu Tianqiu. “Auspicious…? How many people on this land are qualified to participate in an ‘Earth-Dragon’ game? For them, the ‘generals’ you two appoint are no different from death warrants, so please go ahead and do as you please.”

After hearing this, neither Chu Tianqiu nor Qi Xia moved to write any names. They were already thoroughly familiar with how the “Earth-level” operated here.

There might be a trap in this matter. They absolutely couldn’t act rashly.

“What’s wrong…?” The Earth-Dragon asked again. “It’s clearly a ‘Team Confrontation,’ yet you don’t have suitable teammates?”

Qi Xia paused for a few seconds and asked, “What does ‘take turns choosing’ mean?”

“Discuss it among yourselves.” The Earth-Dragon answered. “Each time, select one person. After one person selects, then the second person selects.”

“Then are there any requirements for the people being selected?” Qi Xia asked.

“No requirements whatsoever.” The Earth-Dragon answered.

At this moment, Chu Tianqiu suddenly thought of something and asked, “That means… we can select people from the ‘other side’?”

“Theoretically, yes.” The Earth-Dragon nodded. “But I also have to explain the situation… each time you two finish selecting a teammate, I will open the door behind me and directly teleport to that person’s side to explain the situation to them. Once the other party chooses to ‘refuse,’ they will be considered a ‘Deserting General’ and will be killed by me on the spot.”

“‘Deserting General’…” Chu Tianqiu pondered for a moment, then said with a smile, “What a dirty game this is… putting it nicely, it’s called ‘Appointing Generals,’ but putting it bluntly, isn’t it just making us kill people the other side trusts through ‘Appointing Generals’?”

Qi Xia knew that the game had already begun from this rule.

Once he and Chu Tianqiu selected people from the opposing camp, the selected people would be left with only two paths.

Either join the opposing camp, or be killed on the spot by the Earth-Dragon.

“It’s already come to this point…” Qi Xia reached up to touch his forehead, thinking to himself, “I need to preserve the faith of ‘Endless Life’ to the maximum extent… after all, there will still be tough battles to fight after this game.”

“Which of you two will go first?” The Earth-Dragon asked.

Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia looked at each other. Qi Xia said, “You first.”

“Fine.”

Without any courtesy, Chu Tianqiu reached out his hand and wrote two bright red characters on the electronic screen in elegant, slender handwriting:

“Zhang Shan.”

The screen flickered once, then swallowed these two characters. The wooden door behind the Earth-Dragon also began to glow with light at this moment.

The Earth-Dragon smiled faintly, turned around, and opened the door. A burst of blinding light shone into the endless darkness.

Outside the door was a classroom somewhere in “Heaven’s Mouth,” and Zhang Shan was standing with his back to the door, talking to Old Lu in front of him.

Old Lu was the first to see something. Pointing at Zhang Shan’s back, he stammered, unable to speak.

Sensing something was wrong, Zhang Shan frowned and turned his head to look, only to see a pitch-black portal light up behind him. In the center of the portal were the blood-red words “Zhang Shan Receive the Order.”

“What the hell…” Zhang Shan had never seen this kind of scene either. It looked like some kind of military order, but this scene with black background and red text looked more like some kind of death warrant.

Before he could say anything, an ethereal voice came from near the light portal:

“Commander ‘Chu Tianqiu’ has appointed ‘Zhang Shan’ to enter ‘Cangjie Chess’ as reinforcement. To accept the order, please walk into the portal. To refuse, please step back five paces.”

“Chu Tianqiu…” Zhang Shan frowned in thought.

From the perspective of the three people inside the door—Chu Tianqiu and the others—Zhang Shan appeared to be facing a giant mirror. At this moment, he was facing the mirror with his brow tightly furrowed, seemingly unsure of what to do.

After about a minute, Zhang Shan still chose to believe the portal’s words, got up, and walked into the door. The Earth-Dragon closed the door after Zhang Shan’s figure disappeared from the scene.

But Zhang Shan was different from Qi Xia and the other three. He didn’t appear directly beside everyone through this door. Instead, after walking into the portal, he completely disappeared.

“What?” Chu Tianqiu asked. “Where’s my person?”

“This is the ‘General Appointing Platform.'” The Earth-Dragon said. “Ordinary generals cannot ascend the platform. They will wait in the ‘Preparation Area.’ Please continue ‘Appointing Generals,’ you two.”