The main storyline for the Eastern Wu chapter received overwhelmingly positive feedback across the internet. Players thoroughly enjoyed the story of the Twin Jewels of Jiangdong and took a strong liking to the newly released heroes, such as Sun Shangxiang, the Qiao sisters, Lu Xun, and Lü Meng.

If you pulled Zhou Yu, how could you possibly settle for not pulling Sun Ce? Conversely, if you pulled Sun Ce, throwing in a few more pulls allowed you to exchange for Zhou Yu in the shop. Obtaining both heroes also unlocked the “Twin Jewels of Jiangdong” achievement.

As a result, many players couldn’t resist spending money on gift packs.

The 6-yuan value pack, in particular, saw over ten million purchases.

Xie Yunfan had long anticipated that revenue would skyrocket after updating the main story. What he cared about more was the players’ reception to the upcoming PVP competitive system.

Competitive gameplay was one of the core pillars of this game.

In a tactical combat game, PVE players could rack their brains to devise strategies and tackle various bosses, while PVP players could arrange their battle formations based on their opponent’s lineup.

The sense of satisfaction that PVE and PVP players derived from a game was fundamentally different. If a game wanted to please both groups, it not only needed fun, engaging dungeons, but it also had to make the PVP Arena as balanced as possible.

Turbulent Spring and Autumn‘s PVE systems—such as the equipment dungeons, the War Manual Battlefield, and various event stages—were designed to be rich and entertaining. Players had been having a blast over the past few weeks experimenting with different team compositions to tackle these challenges.

The PVP system was scheduled to officially launch one and a half months after the server opening—right after the “Twin Jewels of Jiangdong” main story event wrapped up, the Arena would open to everyone.

A huge number of competition-minded players had been eagerly awaiting this moment.

On September 25, the official Weibo published an announcement detailing the Arena mechanics:

“The Turbulent Spring and Autumn Arena PVP gameplay will officially go live after the October 1 update.

The Arena features a 1v1 battle mode where each player can deploy 6 heroes, 1 formation, and 3 War Manuals. Players will be matched randomly across servers. The Arena will be open daily from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM and 8:00 PM to 10:00 PM; it will remain closed during other hours.

Player ranks are divided into nine tiers from low to high, with each tier broken down into three sub-ranks: Star, Moon, and Sun. In PVP mode, victories grant points while defeats deduct points. Tiers below Tier 5 do not feature a Ban/Pick phase, jumping straight into battle. Tiers 5 and above will introduce a BP (Ban/Pick) phase, allowing both sides to ban each other’s heroes…”

After reading the detailed explanation published by the official team, players expressed overwhelming anticipation.

For ranks below Tier 5, most players were relatively green novices. If you instituted hero bans at that level, the opponent might be left with no heroes to play. Higher-tier players at Tier 5 and above possessed deeper hero pools; even if you banned one of their heroes, they could easily pull out another. In the endgame, mutual hero bans added an extra layer of mind games.

PVP rewards were settled on a seasonal basis, with each season lasting three months.

October through December would mark Season 1. As long as a player reached Tier 5, they would earn the limited season skin, Xishi: Washing Silk. There were also plenty of other rewards, including gacha pulls and progression resources.

Mengtu, who had a collection addiction, glanced at Xishi’s limited outfit and said excitedly, “Holy crap, have you guys seen Xishi’s season skin? You can see what she looks like wearing it in the preview interface—it’s gorgeous! For the sake of this beauty’s skin, I’m definitely grinding PVP!”

In addition to the limited Arena skin available to all players who reached Tier 5, there was another skin that could only be purchased with real money in the shop.

The hero receiving this skin was the incredibly popular hero—Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Liang: Divine Foresight, priced at 68 yuan. The outfit was exquisitely designed, and equipping it altered his combat skill visual effects: the design and color of his Kongming Lanterns changed, the models for the Wooden Ox and Flowing Horse tools became remarkably cute, and it even unlocked extra combat voice lines.

The big spenders were instantly sold: “Say no more, buying it right now!”

Zhuge Liang was a top-tier Solar support; practically every whale had one. Even many monthly pass players had exchanged for one via the wish system or the token shop to clear the main story.

Although Uncle Flying Bear loved the skin, he stuck to his rule of never spending money on games and resisted buying it.

Flying Bear lamented with admiration: “The operations team for this game is brilliant. Whale players will definitely buy hero skins, and collection enthusiasts will buy them to admire. The key is… they give you Xishi’s season skin for free, while selling Zhuge Liang’s skin in the store. By giving one away and selling one, you can’t even bring yourself to flame them, right?!”

If the official team had sold two limited skins right after launch, players would definitely have flamed them for being greedy.

That was precisely where Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang proved their cleverness. Naturally, they weren’t running a charity—they wanted to make money. But they would never push or force players to spend.

Since skins didn’t affect combat stats anyway, players could buy them or not as they pleased. Those with money chipped in money; those without chipped in presence. Everyone enjoyed the game together.

Industry insiders had assumed that without stat boosts, very few people would buy the hero skins.

Yet the moment Zhuge Liang’s skin went live, the sales numbers flabbergasted the industry!

A skin priced at 68 yuan actually generated over 70 million yuan in sales?! That meant over a million players had spent real money to buy it!

After all, Zhuge Liang was a Solar card, and many players who didn’t own the hero simply didn’t buy the skin.

What was most remarkable was that instead of criticizing the developers, the players who bought it flooded the internet with screenshots, praising the skin’s beautiful design and telling the production team to maintain this standard.

Some even went under LittleSailboat’s Weibo to leave comments:

“Are our Zhang Liang and Han Xin not worthy of having skins? Hurry up and make a set of new clothes for them too!”

“My Bian Que wants new clothes to wear too.”

“Can you make a couple’s outfit for Lü Zhi and Liu Bang? I don’t really like their current look.”

“Hurry up and hire more artists! Schedule skins for every single Solar card!”

“@LittleSailboat, shake the little boat and hurry your art team! If you release a skin for the Qiao sisters, I promise to whale out for you!”

Industry peers were utterly dumbfounded.

In other games, the developers forced players to spend money, and players paid while cursing up a storm. In Turbulent Spring and Autumn, players were begging the developers to release paid skins and happily dropping cash!

This was truly an incomprehensible, magical phenomenon!

On October 1, the Arena officially opened.

At 12:00 PM, the moment the competitive mode launched, countless players swarmed into the Arena.

Casual players were only aiming for Tier 5 to grab the season skin, while competitive enthusiasts naturally wanted to reach higher ranks to flex their skill.

Because the PVP system had just gone live, most players were unfamiliar with the game’s competitive tactics. The exploration phase was mostly a hilarious display of “noobs pecking at each other,” where winning or losing depended entirely on luck.

For instance, some players assembled a “Burst Damage Team” with four AOE attackers and two AOE healers. Their goal was to wipe the opponent out in one wave, purely seeking the thrill of a quick win. Truth be told, at lower ranks, this strategy was quite effective. Throwing down several AOE attacks in a row left the opponent either dead or severely crippled, ending the battle within five turns—extremely simple and brutal.

Of course, this lineup was also prone to crashing and burning. It won fast, but lost even faster.

Other players built a “Tank & Heal Team,” placing two high-DEF heroes in the front row, two DPS in the middle, and healers in the back. You couldn’t scratch them at all and would slowly be dragged to death.

The most common setups in the Arena were the Fire Comp and Water Comp introduced during the “Twin Jewels of Jiangdong” update. Zhou Yu and Lu Xun would stack Burn debuffs together, causing the enemy’s health to melt rapidly; the Qiao sisters teamed up to apply Slow debuffs, turning opponents into sluggish turtles.

There was also the dominant Han Dynasty Team. By this point, a huge number of Han faction heroes had been released. Solar cards included Lü Zhi, Liu Bang, Zhang Liang, Han Xin, Wei Qing, and Huo Qubing; Lunar cards included Wei Zifu, Zhang Qian, Fan Kuai, Xiao He, and more.

Whale players could directly deploy a luxurious, all-Han, all-Solar lineup.

Xiakucao also used this exact team during his livestream. He explained:

“Both Lü Zhi’s and Liu Bang’s skills grant buffs to Han faction characters. For this lineup, you have to pay close attention to your team’s speed tuning. Lü Zhi needs Speed 1, Han Xin Speed 2, Liu Bang Speed 3, while Wei Qing and Huo Qubing can take Speed 4 and 5 in any order. Zhang Liang himself is the slowest, so put him at tail speed.”

“The strategy is for Lü Zhi to open by stealing the enemy’s turn action, pulling Zhang Liang to act immediately. Zhang Liang uses Decide Victory from a Thousand Miles to lock down the enemy’s core carry. Han Xin activates his Swallow the Rivers and Mountains state, instantly maxing his rage, followed immediately by Back to the Water to burst down a single target. This forms an extremely efficient ‘triple combo’ turn sequence for our side.”

“Han Xin’s skills deal bonus damage to ‘controlled targets,’ making him a perfect synergy with Zhang Liang, whose control probability is exceptionally high. In his maxed-rage state, he stands a high chance of bursting down a fragile enemy carry right off the bat. Then it’s Liu Bang’s turn, using Three Chapters of Law to temporarily render the opponent unable to attack. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing can then secure another kill.”

“Of course, this lineup has a fatal flaw—the entire team is squishy with terrible sustainability. If you run into a heavy tank team—for example, if the enemy has Goujian using Taunt to protect key targets and our Han Xin fails to kill their main DPS—we will most likely crash and burn after two turns.”

“This setup is also terrified of the War Manual Borrow a Sword to Kill Another. If the enemy Lord carries Borrow a Sword, they can directly borrow your Han Xin’s blade to slaughter his own teammates, and your entire lineup will collapse in an instant.”

“This is an aggressive, burst-oriented opening comp suited for stomping noobs at low ranks. For ranks at Tier 3 and above, please use more supports and bring fewer squishy DPS characters.”

Listening to the streamer’s analysis, players couldn’t help but marvel—the strategy in this Arena sounded complex, with so many areas worth researching!

The “speed tuning” mentioned by the streamer was absolutely crucial.

In turn-based games, the timing of actions was paramount.

Take the Han Team, for example. Lü Zhi’s skill was “Steal the action turn of the next enemy hero, designating a friendly hero to act immediately.” She had two distinct ways to be played.

The first was making Lü Zhi the fastest on the team. After stealing the enemy’s turn, she would synergize with her teammates to quickly eliminate an enemy target.

The second was setting Lü Zhi at tail speed. As a round drew to a close and the next round was about to begin, she could steal the turn of the opponent’s fastest hero and pull her team’s healer or support to act, protecting her own carries from being burst down.

By the same token, Zhuge Liang also had different playstyles—initiating battles by arranging formations early, or acting late to shield allies.

For the Eastern Wu Fire Comp, Zhou Yu’s speed had to be greater than Lu Xun’s, because Lu Xun’s critical hits could only trigger after Zhou Yu had first stacked the Burn buff. If you geared the two heroes in reverse and Lu Xun acted first, he wouldn’t deal any damage.

Players gradually came to realize the importance of team composition and equipment matching.

The barrier to entry for the game’s Arena was indeed somewhat high, and complete novices might struggle at first. However, as long as you played a few matches and understood the competitive rules, you would find researching it to be incredibly fascinating.

It was infinitely more enjoyable than those pay-to-win games where players simply stacked raw stats to sweep through the arena.

On the opening day of the PVP Arena, a massive wave of discussions surfaced online.

The Super Topic forum was being flooded continuously:

“I put together a team myself and found it works surprisingly well! Sun Shangxiang, Sun Ce, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Xishi. Sun Ce is the main DPS, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are secondary DPS, Sun Shangxiang buffs the entire team’s attack speed, Liu Bei buffs physical attack, Xishi handles control and cleanses, and both Shangxiang and Liu Bei can heal! Great sustainability! 2 Solar cards, 4 Lunar cards—low cultivation cost! Everyone can give it a try! A very well-rounded physical team.”

“My lineup is Cao Cao + Jing Ke (2 Solars), with Goujian + Xishi + Fan Li + Sun Shangxiang (4 Lunars). The idea is for Goujian to taunt and draw firepower, Jing Ke acts as the main DPS with Sun Shangxiang single-target healing him, and Cao Cao counters. After three turns, Goujian + Cao Cao + Jing Ke burst simultaneously, guaranteed to melt at least two enemies and instantly break their front line~”

“Let me tell you guys a secret: Tail-speed Zhuge Liang is a god! His skill, Observing the Stars, lets you rearrange your team’s turn order for the next round. When low on health, bring the healer up first to heal; when in good shape, let the DPS act first to burst down targets. It’s an insanely flexible god-tier Arena skill! I even bought his skin, and I’m bringing Zhuge into every match from now on.”

“In the Arena today, my Fire Team ran into a Water Team. Their Sun Ce insisted on bursting my Zhou Yu down, but as a result, our team kept stacking Burn buffs. In the end, we pulled off a total clutch comeback with Lü Meng’s Crossing the River in White. The opponent must have been furious!”

Netizens were discussing the meta with immense fervor.

Reading about other people’s team compositions also helped broaden everyone’s tactical thinking.

Uncle Flying Bear brought a team composed entirely of Lunar cards to fight. As long as you knew how to synergize hero skills and War Manuals, you could actually defeat a team of 6 Solar cards!

Flying Bear posted a video highlight reel of the Arena on his homepage, writing:

“The War Manual most commonly used in the Arena, Borrow a Sword to Kill Another, is perfect against single-target burst DPS like Han Xin and Jing Ke. Borrowing their blade to kill their own teammates will catch the opponent completely off guard~”

“Manuals like Deceive the Heavens to Cross the Ocean and Await Leisurely for the Exhausted Enemy are great for Lords who lack healing or support units; you can use them to dodge the opponent’s key ultimate abilities. Steal a Goat in Passing is super fun too—once I stole Lü Zhi’s skill and took away the enemy Liu Bang’s turn. The opponent just typed a row of ellipses in chat…”

“Once all 36 War Manuals are collected, this game’s PVP mode is going to become even more fun.”

“I have to admit, I’m getting a little addicted right now!”

After watching Uncle Flying Bear’s video highlights, players left comments agreeing one after another:

“I love playing it too! It’s such a pity it’s only open for 2 hours during noon and night. I wish I could play Arena for 8 hours a day.”

“Who understands this? As someone with clumsy hands who can’t handle real-time action games, I actually found my joy in turn-based strategy! This mode is a total blessing for button-mashers.”

“I originally played Arena just to get the skin, but after playing a bit, it turned out to be really fun? I brought the Steal a Goat in Passing manual, waited to see what powerful skill the opponent had, stole it, and had a total blast, Hahaha!”

Currently, most players hadn’t cleared the 108 floors of the War Manual Battlefield yet, only securing a dozen or so manuals. In the future, once all 36 were unlocked, deciding which War Manuals to bring into each battle would require careful deliberation.

—There was no such thing as an invincible lineup.

Different team compositions countered one another, and the tactical application of War Manuals could turn the tide at critical moments.

Every battle was filled with unpredictability, and winning a match in such a competitive environment provided an incredible sense of achievement.

A multiplayer PVP game was something Yangfan Studio had never attempted before, and Xie Yunfan was genuinely uncertain about numerical balance and the overall PVP experience.

Ever since the PVP system went live, Xie Yunfan had been closely monitoring online public sentiment in real time. He lurked in the Weibo Super Topic forum on his alt account and found that players were engaged in lively discussions.

If a massive number of players were complaining that the competitive mode was unfun, or that a certain hero was overpowered and sweeping the board—causing the Arena to lose its balance—that would be a serious problem.

He scrolled through the discussions for a while. Aside from a small number of players venting about “not understanding how to play” or “losing because they were too scrubby,” the vast majority of players were debating team synergy techniques and War Manual strategies.

This was a great sign.

At the very least, the competitive mode possessed a strong appeal to players rather than driving them away.

After browsing the Weibo comment sections and Super Topic for an hour, Xie Yunfan finally set his mind at ease—sure enough, integrating the War Manual system had been the right decision. It greatly enriched the Arena gameplay, balanced out hero power levels, and made timing and strategy paramount.

Just then, Luo Hang suddenly called: “In the Arena, most people haven’t fully figured out the playstyles yet, but overall, the feedback is overwhelmingly positive. You can rest easy now.”

Xie Yunfan was taken aback: “How did you know I was worried?”

Luo Hang said, “Because this is our first time launching a large-scale online PVP mode. Whether for you or for me, it’s a brand new challenge. I was feeling uncertain all along, and I guessed you were too.”

Xie Yunfan chuckled softly: “Yeah, I really wasn’t sure, but fortunately the result turned out well.”

With PVP avoiding a crash and burn, the core gameplay loop of the game was fully stabilized.

Casual players could continue collecting heroes, customizing their Manors, and purchasing skins for their favorite heroes if they had extra cash. Competitive players had a new home as well.

In the Arena, ranks below Tier 5 were basically “noobs pecking at each other,” where having one main team was enough to play casually.

However, ranks above Tier 5 were filled with high-end players who had fought in countless matches. Once the BP (Ban/Pick) mode was introduced, having only one team of heroes was definitely insufficient—if your best hero was banned, you would be left with nothing to play.

When that happened, players would need to cultivate more heroes and expand their “hero pools.” Competitive players thus gained the drive to keep raising heroes and improving their tactical awareness.

With the addition of the remaining 36 War Manuals down the line, as well as new heroes arriving alongside main story updates, even more team composition archetypes would emerge.

The meta lineups in the Arena would shift with every passing season, keeping the gameplay fresh.

No single lineup would be invincible. The key to winning or losing would still depend on your tactical adaptability—which was precisely the goal Xie Yunfan had set out to achieve when creating a strategy game.

As long as the Arena maintained a baseline of balance, the game could enjoy long-term, stable development.

Luo Hang asked, “For the upcoming main story updates, are we sticking to the original plan—updating one major chapter every month and releasing two skins?”

Xie Yunfan replied, “Yes. A single chapter already features a lot of heroes, and players need time to get familiar with them. Releasing them too quickly will easily lead to chaos, so let’s keep a steady pace.”

Skins were the same; releasing them too fast would draw accusations of being “money-grubbing.”

This time, Zhuge Liang’s skin served as a “litmus test.” Its high sales demonstrated that players had a very high acceptance rate for hero skins and were willing to spend money on them.

Moving forward, they would continue releasing two skins each month—one given away via events for everyone to obtain, and the other available for purchase with real money.

Selling one and giving one away made it far easier for players to accept.

While this approach slightly reduced game profits, the crucial benefit was retaining players.

Having 100 people spend 100 yuan each versus 1,000 people spending 10 yuan each yielded the same total profit of 10,000 yuan, but the latter possessed far greater potential and was much more sustainable for long-term operations.

Turbulent Spring and Autumn currently maintained a stable player base of around 50 million, making it a rare blockbuster title unseen in years. In a scenario where they could easily sit back and rake in money without forcing players to spend, there was no need to ruin their own reputation.

Over the weekend, Xie Yunfan and Luo Hang met up to discuss upcoming update content.

Following the Eastern Wu rate-up banner, the next chapter would be “Wind and Clouds over Western Shu.”

This chapter focused specifically on the story of the Kingdom of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, introducing a large number of Shu heroes—such as Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, and Ma Chao. Combined with the previously released Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, the Five Tiger Generals would finally be assembled.

These were all exceptionally strong DPS heroes that could be cultivated as main carries.

Additionally, Pang Tong was designed as a versatile support whose skill Phoenix Rebirth granted resurrection capabilities; Zhuge Liang’s wife, Huang Yueying, could team up with Zhuge Liang to form a “Summoner Comp,” bringing a massive army of mechanical contraptions to the battlefield; and supports like Liu Shan and Fa Zheng would offer even more protection for the team.

Following the Western Shu chapter would be the Northern Wei chapter.

Wei Dynasty heroes from the Three Kingdoms era would make their concentrated debut—Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Zhen Ji, along with Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Liao, Xiahou Dun, and more.

Afterward, an “All Warlords Under Heaven” chapter would be updated, focusing on hero stories outside the Wei, Shu, and Wu factions—such as Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo, Diaochan, Zhang Jiao, Yuan Shao, Cai Wenji, and Hua Tuo.

These heroes would be introduced through “individual narratives.”

During the chaotic Three Kingdoms era, warlords carved up the land; if the story were told strictly chronologically, a full year wouldn’t be enough to cover it. Xie Yunfan had initially selected only a few classic tales and divided them by factional updates, making it easier for players to digest.

Later on, they could supplement and insert “side stories” at any time.

In this manner, adding more heroes in the future would remain incredibly flexible.

Luo Hang glanced at the calendar and said, “Western Shu in November, Northern Wei in December, and the All Warlords chapter in January… By the time the Three Kingdoms content wraps up, it’ll be right around Spring Festival, right? We should probably plan the Spring Festival events in advance.”

Xie Yunfan said, “Mm, I’m planning to push back the Guild PVP. Right now, players haven’t even fully grasped individual PVP yet. Coupled with the steady stream of new heroes, rushing to open guild battles isn’t a good time. It would be better to launch Guild PK during Spring Festival and host an official tournament at the same time. What do you think?”

Luo Hang asked, “Are you thinking of an offline tournament, or online?”

Xie Yunfan pondered for a moment before saying, “Hosting an offline tournament requires applying for event venues and maintaining security, plus arranging round-trip plane tickets and accommodations for players is a huge hassle. Since it’s just a guild tournament and not a professional esports league, running it online and livestreaming it for netizens feels much more convenient… What do you think?”

Luo Hang smiled and said, “I was thinking the exact same thing.” He paused, then added, “In addition to guild battles, we can also add an individual tournament to attract top-tier players who don’t care for social features.”

Xie Yunfan nodded: “Makes sense. Individual tournaments feature 6 heroes, while guild battles feature 3 teams of 18 heroes—each has its own unique highlights. For individual competition, the game already provides rich rewards, but hosting a broadcasted tournament with an upgraded prize pool will allow even more players to experience the charm of tactical PVP.”

Luo Hang asked, “How much do you think is appropriate for the prize pool?”

Xie Yunfan said, “You’re in charge of operations, so you decide.”

Luo Hang: “How about 5 million yuan?”

Xie Yunfan: “…”

We’re just hosting a tournament for everyone to have fun, President Luo… isn’t that a bit too generous?

Luo Hang explained, “I hope to make this tournament a resounding success. Turbulent Spring and Autumn took an immense amount of effort from us, and as the world’s very first dual-end cross-connected MMO for both holographic pods and mobile, it holds enormous significance.”

Xie Yunfan understood: “You want to run it for the media, to show them Qihang’s strength?”

Luo Hang admitted frankly, “Of course. If the tournament succeeds, overseas publishers will have even more confidence in Turbulent Spring and Autumn. We can leverage this event wave to push the game globally.”

He blinked at Xie Yunfan with a subtle smile and added, “Who knows? Maybe in the future, we’ll create a dedicated professional esports title capable of hosting global leagues.”

Xie Yunfan laughed.

Luo Hang never hid his ambitions in front of him. Running a professional esports league was no easy feat, and Turbulent Spring and Autumn was merely a turn-based strategy game with too many unpredictable variables, falling short of being a true “esports title.”

But in the future, there would definitely be one.

This tournament could serve as a way to test the waters first.

With Luo Hang willing to throw down a 5 million yuan prize pool to attract players, this tournament… was guaranteed to explode in popularity!