Within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven.
Thirty-six Nascent Soul grandmasters were scattered across various locations, each controlling a portion of the Lanke Chessboard.
Though they appeared dispersed, all their power had coalesced in an uncanny union.
This uncanny harmony stemmed from the aged figure seated high upon the central platform.
Chess Saint Ke Lianshan!
Using the formation as a conduit, he drew the collective might of everyone into his own body. Controlling the Lanke Chessboard, he gathered spiritual opportunity from the four continents that had fractured away from the Central Plains. This included the western continent, which had long ago been submerged beneath the vast ocean by the Yellow Springs Sea; even now, an abundance of spiritual opportunity was diffusing from the undersea ruins, only to be drawn in and absorbed.
As this immense spiritual opportunity converged, clouds surged and the wind shifted across the desolate plain, spiritual energy rolling like an ocean tide.
Such a spectacle could rival the ascension of Alchemy Saint Chu Yan all those years ago.
They were not the only ones present within the grotto-heaven; a group of Core Formation true disciples had also been sent inside to cultivate diligently.
With the date of their departure drawing near, these Core Formation true disciples began gathering toward this area, observing the grand undertaking of their sect seniors at close range.
Among them were individuals from venerable families with vast knowledge, who began to deduce what was unfolding upon witnessing the scene.
Especially with Ke Lianshan at the very center!
His aura rose without ceasing, and a majestic pressure of the soul expanded outward, seeking to fuse seamlessly with heaven and earth.
"Martial Uncle Ke is trying to use this opportunity to charge into the Soul Formation stage!"
With just a single glance, someone discerned the truth.
Before they could even marvel, their attention was drawn to a young man strolling along the outer perimeter of the desolate plain.
"Is that Senior Brother Zhou Fuyou?"
"Wait, his cultivation realm..."
Several noticed the fluctuations of magic power emanating from Zhou Fuyou, each left in shock.
A century had passed in the grotto-heaven, and everyone's strength had grown, but those who could form a Nascent Soul ahead of time like Zhou Fuyou were exceedingly rare.
As the top ten finishers of the recent sexagenary grand tournament, the remaining disciples were hardly weak; they were already the favored prodigies of this generation in the Tianyuan Dao Sect.
In time, they would certainly become the cream of the young generation, shouldering the great responsibility of revitalizing the sect.
Yet compared to the divinely gifted Zhou Fuyou, they still paled in comparison.
Gu Muyu rubbed the ring on her finger. Inside lay a portion of ten-thousand-year spiritual herbs she had harvested ahead of time. Her journey had already achieved complete merit, and she would undoubtedly receive rewards from her clan upon exiting.
Unfortunately, she had lacked the leisure to dedicate herself entirely to cultivation; otherwise, she might have been able to form her nascent soul early like Zhou Fuyou.
Her gaze fell upon Zhou Fuyou with a touch of envy, alongside a flicker of doubt.
"What is he doing?"
Zhou Fuyou's footsteps suddenly came to a halt.
This spot was farthest from the Lanke Chessboard, yet it offered an unobstructed view of the entire desolate plain.
Gazing ahead, a pensive look surfaced in Zhou Fuyou's eyes.
"Harnessing the power of a spiritual treasure to blend the cultivation of thirty-six grandmasters into one body grants Ke Lianshan strength temporarily comparable to a Soul Formation grandmaster, allowing him to control the Lanke Chessboard and draw in spiritual opportunity from the four continents of the Central Plains.
"In turn, such vast spiritual opportunity not only supplies the external God Descent Array, but also propels Ke Lianshan further as he scales toward the Soul Formation realm!
"Moreover, the thirty-six Nascent Soul grandmasters within it can use this connection to perceive Ke Lianshan's insights during his breakthrough, granting them immense benefits for the future.
"No wonder Martial Uncle Li once said there would be another opportunity when the grotto-heaven reopened. So that was it!"
For a cultivator to break through to the Soul Formation realm, they had to rely on a fifth-tier spirit vein.
Yet the spirit vein itself was not the key; the key was the vast spiritual opportunity naturally accumulated within it. By drawing upon this spiritual opportunity, a Nascent Soul grandmaster could closely bind their divine soul to heaven and earth, roaming the ocean of origin qi and condensing their primordial spirit during that window. At the same time, once the spiritual opportunity was exhausted, the grandmaster would naturally disengage from that state, avoiding prolonged integration that might lead to being assimilated by heaven and earth.
The opportunity Martial Uncle Li spoke of was precisely this vast spiritual opportunity gathered by the Lanke Chessboard.
Had he been in the Nascent Soul stage at that time and quietly contemplated it, he might have used it to comprehend a true intent of laws unique to himself.
"Unfortunately, it is no longer needed."
Zhou Fuyou sighed softly and looked up toward the heavens.
A massive vortex had emerged in the sky.
It was a gateway leading to the outside world.
At this moment, Ke Lianshan was connecting to the outside world through that gateway, simultaneously channeling a massive amount of spiritual opportunity into the God Descent Array.
To halt the operation of the God Descent Array, one only needed to disrupt Ke Lianshan's breakthrough.
Everyone present belonged to the same sect, so none would naturally do something that pained their allies and pleased their foes—including the former Zhou Fuyou.
But now...
Zhou Fuyou drew a gentle breath and crooked his finger. Following the deep-seated comprehension in his memories, wisps of azure gas gathered at his fingertips.
As they coalesced, Zhou Fuyou's face grew slightly pale, as though this physical body could scarcely endure such a move.
Yet the strike was destined to take shape.
Before anyone realized, the surrounding vegetation turned ash-grey. Rocks and soil crumbled into fine sand, and even the distant mountains grew loose and unstable.
Their life force had been drained away.
No one noticed. The Nascent Soul grandmasters were entirely immersed in experiencing Ke Lianshan's breakthrough to Soul Formation.
Even Gu Muyu, who had been watching Zhou Fuyou's movements, had no idea what he was doing.
Only one person!
Only Chess Saint Ke Lianshan, who was intimately linked to heaven and earth at this moment, sensed something amiss.
His eyelids fluttered open, and he instinctively looked toward that chess piece outside the board—that gentle, feminine young man.
As if sensing his gaze, the young man offered him a faint smile.
Then, he thrust a finger forward.
In the sky, the wind and clouds shifted abruptly!
The origin qi of the grotto-heaven churned violently. From deep within the thick clouds, an immense finger slowly emerged. Amid the startled cries of the nine Core Formation true disciples, it pointed toward Ke Lianshan across the void.
Ke Lianshan remained motionless, powerless to resist, capable only of watching helplessly as the finger descended.
Faintly, he seemed to hear two words.
"Wither-Bloom!"
As the finger descended, Ke Lianshan's pupils dilated. He felt the ever-rising aura across his body recede like an ebbing tide.
A withering aura that turned azure into pale white coiled around him, aging him drastically.
Had it ended there, it might have been bearable.
Ke Lianshan struggled to look up. The origin qi vortex connecting to the outside world was violently trembling, cutting off the transmission of spiritual opportunity.
The God Descent Array was interrupted!
Failing his breakthrough did not matter, but the failure of the God Descent Array jeopardized the True Monarch's descent from the Profound Realm and the Tianyuan Dao Sect's grand design of vengeance and resurgence.
All of this was wrought by that gentle young man!
*Pfft!*
A mouthful of blood sprayed out. The desolate plain trembled in response, jolting all the Nascent Soul grandmasters awake.
They felt a hollow sense of loss, as though roused from a dream.
Then, following Ke Lianshan's gaze, every eye turned toward that distant young man.
Beside him, nine figures realized what was happening and threw themselves toward the youth in unison.
And then!
Before the nine figures could even draw near, they crashed downward, pinned ruthlessly to the earth by an overwhelmingly powerful Nascent Soul domain.
Not a sliver of pity showed in the youth's eyes. With a shift of his will, that crushing pressure detonated instantly.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Bloody blossoms burst open one after another, painting a grim and dazzling scene.
The thirty-six grandmasters were filled with rage, their eyes nearly tearing at the corners!
"Kill him!" Ke Lianshan barked, his voice laden with boundless fury and dread.
Without hesitation, the grandmasters moved like raging thunder, flashing forward like lightning.
Rather than retreating, the young man advanced. With a shudder of his frame, plumes of black vapor soared into the sky, forming a vast expanse like an ocean of mist that enshrouded them all.
Qi Sea Floating Heaven, a grim panorama of ten thousand manifestations!
Unable to tend to the battle, a graceful figure flew onto the high platform and knelt on one knee, gazing worriedly at the tottering Ke Lianshan.
"Senior Brother, how are you?"
Ke Lianshan had aged to the extreme, his facial wrinkles as craggy and weathered as ancient tree bark.
He struggled to steady himself. "Junior Sister Mingyan, I have failed to break through to Soul Formation. My broken body is about to wither."
Mingyan covered her mouth, her face pale with utter disbelief.
Earlier, she had been intimately connected to Ke Lianshan through the Lanke Chessboard alongside the others, and she had naturally sensed how smoothly their sect's Chess Saint had been progressing toward the Soul Formation realm.
Senior Brother Ke's foundation was profound beyond measure; every trial encountered during the breakthrough had been navigated with ease.
Even the rumored invasion of inner demons had been suppressed with a wave of his hand.
Who could have imagined he would suddenly end up like this?
Ke Lianshan's body trembled as he looked toward the vortex leading to the outside world, despair mingled with a sliver of hope.
Gradually, that hope grew, and the despair in his eyes gave way to a fierce brightness.
"No, it hasn't failed yet!
"The True Monarch wishes to force his way into this realm—he is still persisting!
"Though I have no hope of reaching Soul Formation, my remnant body remains. I must burn what is left to offer one last measure of strength to the Tianyuan Dao Sect!"
Murmuring to himself, Ke Lianshan forcefully steadied his mind.
"Mingyan, among those present, your cultivation is the highest and your strength the greatest. You have even grasped a true intent of laws. You must kill Zhou Fuyou; you cannot let him disrupt me again."
Before his voice died away, like a dying ember flaring back to life, his aura began surging violently once more.
"Senior Brother, what are you doing?" Mingyan cried in shock.
"The True Monarch's descent requires a beacon to guide him. I will burn my own magic power and funnel all the spiritual opportunity here into the God Descent Array to open a path for him!" With resolute resolve, Ke Lianshan pressed a finger against his chest.
Horror seized Mingyan as she seemed to hear the sound of something shattering.
It was his nascent soul!
It was Senior Brother Ke Lianshan's nascent soul, cultivated over a thousand years—the very foundation of the Great Dao that had stood a hair's breadth from Soul Formation!
Her senior brother had completely abandoned himself, burning his own foundation to see their unfinished mission through.
"Go! Do not let Zhou Fuyou leave here alive!"
Mingyan hesitated no longer. Pushing her lips into a tight line, she rose, bowed deeply to Ke Lianshan, and turned. A chilling glare fixed upon the young man in the distance.
"Traitor!"
...
"Fuyou, do you realize what you've done?"
"Ambushing your sect senior, slaughtering your fellow disciples—have you lost your mind?"
Martial Uncle Li's mind was in turmoil, scarcely able to believe the scenes that had just unfolded.
He shared a close relationship with Fu Qinglan and frequently visited her.
Naturally, his affection extended to Zhou Fuyou as well.
Moreover, Zhou Fuyou had performed brilliantly in the sexagenary grand tournament, demonstrating unprecedented talent and aptitude that seemed to surpass even Shi Ju.
Zhou Fuyou was not merely a junior he regarded highly; he was also the hope for the Tianyuan Dao Sect's future resurgence.
For this reason, he had offered Zhou Fuyou frequent pointers and reiterated warnings before entering the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven.
Yet everything that had just occurred made him feel as if he were trapped in a nightmare.
Until—
"Look out!"
An urgent warning from a junior martial brother rang out from behind.
A fierce wind bore down upon his face.
Instinctively, he summoned a defensive magical treasure.
Yet the black vapor surged forward, heavy as a mountain, slamming into the defensive treasure like a battering ram.
*Dong!*
The magical treasure shattered instantly.
More than that, the black vapor spread outward and enveloped him, its terrifying corrosive power reducing his protective barrier, robe, and physical body to nothingness.
Martial Uncle Li's eyes were blank as Zhou Fuyou brushed past him.
He whispered, "Why?"
Zhou Fuyou swept his wide sleeve, and the black canopy swallowed the remnant body whole.
He offered no reply. He merely charged ahead, gazing coldly upon the incoming Nascent Soul grandmasters and their barrage of formidable attacks.
With few exceptions, most of these Nascent Soul grandmasters were obscure figures.
Yet obscurity did not mean incompetence.
On the contrary!
These people were the core backbone of the Tianyuan Dao Sect's prominent clans!
Their cultivation was neither low nor high, their ages neither young nor old, all diligent cultivators within their respective families.
Most importantly, they were homegrown sect members possessing absolute loyalty to the Tianyuan Dao Sect!
Therefore, for this "True Monarch's Descent" plan, the sect had mobilized these most faithful individuals.
It was both to ensure the plan's smooth execution and to grant them valuable experience through Ke Lianshan's breakthrough.
In time, once these thirty-six Nascent Soul grandmasters emerged, their realms would advance by leaps and bounds, filling the void left after the great catastrophe of the Central Plains.
Tragically, all of them were destined to be buried here today.
Zhou Fuyou let out a low cry, and Qi Sea Floating Heaven engulfed all incoming attacks.
Facing a Nascent Soul grandmaster, he flicked a finger.
Within the black canopy, lightning flashed, and a crack of thunder struck down abruptly.
*Crack!*
The figure shuddered. In that brief moment of paralysis, a surge of black vapor swept over, engulfing him, and a bloodcurdling scream rang out across the wild.
Every Dao Sect grandmaster froze in their tracks.
After their towering fury, they were seized with terror by Zhou Fuyou's methods.
How could this Zhou clan technique be so formidable, and yet so eerie?
"Do not fear!"
A seasoned, steady elder stepped forward in this moment of crisis to steady their resolve.
"He is only one person, and he has only just stepped into the Nascent Soul realm; his magic power is bound to be thin. If we join forces, we will surely obliterate him!"
Heartened, the grandmasters unfurled their protective wards and launched wave after wave of attacks at Zhou Fuyou.
Hearing these words, a cold sneer curved Zhou Fuyou's lips.
Thin magic power?
They had no inkling of what they were truly facing.
Zhou Fuyou struck his purple mansion with a palm, twisting his hand in a sharp rotation.
"Open!"
As though some shackle had been unlatched, a boundless torrent of power came pouring forth.
Terrifying black vapor bared its fangs and brandished its claws, spreading wildly in all directions.
Qi Sea Floating Heaven, which had originally covered only several li, expanded in that instant to ten li, a hundred li, and then a thousand li.
Apart from the high platform where Ke Lianshan sat, the vast desolate plain was entirely enshrouded.
A great black river, seemingly flowing from the underworld, surged forth.
Treading upon the Netherworld river beneath his feet and beneath the black canopy overhead, Zhou Fuyou looked coldly upon the crowd without uttering a word.
Yet the movements of his hands never ceased.
Striking at will, turbid waves towered and vapor currents swept through; with the strength of a single person, he sought to battle everyone at once.
Such arrogant behavior would normally draw ridicule.
Yet after that black river emerged, no one held such thoughts any longer.
Only a single thought crossed their minds:
*Zhou Fuyou has only just entered the early Nascent Soul stage. How could he possess such boundless magic power, surpassing even ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators?*
Zhou Fuyou offered no answer to this question.
Between them lay only the cruellest, most direct slaughter.
While external wars shifted in the blink of an eye, the battle within the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven stretched on endlessly due to the difference in the flow of time.
Once Zhou Fuyou unsealed the Ming Water Spring Eye to augment his magic power, his reserves could no longer be measured by the standards of an early Nascent Soul cultivator.
That was a spring eye that had once birthed the Netherworld Abyss and sheltered the Mingyuan Sect for several thousand years.
The power within it was as vast as an ocean!
In particular, the Water Origin contained inside complemented Zhou Fuyou's physical body perfectly, allowing for flawless mastery.
Coupled with the soul currently occupying this body, which possessed boundless combat experience within its memories, once the battle commenced, it became a completely one-sided massacre.
Zhou Fuyou wove through the battlefield. Though he stood alone against thirty-five opponents, under the empowerment of the technique Qi Sea Floating Heaven—which rivaled a divine ability—the battlefield was partitioned into distinct sections, effectively reducing it to thirty-five separate one-on-one encounters.
Such was how Martial Uncle Li fell.
And such was how the other Dao Sect grandmasters met their ends.
Strolling casually through the battle, Zhou Fuyou even had the leeway to feel deep emotion: that before his old friend Zhou Yunshen reached the end of his lifespan, he had actually managed to create a technique with such immense growth potential.
The threshold to practice it was remarkably low, manageable even for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Yet its growth potential was astonishingly high, allowing one to continually integrate various treasures and materials to enhance its might according to the cultivator's unique traits.
Especially when Zhou Fuyou broke through to the Nascent Soul realm, he had refined tribulation lightning into it.
At that moment, Qi Sea Floating Heaven finally took on the nascent form of a divine ability!
One by one, the enemies were shattered.
Life after life dissipated into the nether.
Until—
"Break!"
A delicate, fierce shout rang out.
A beam of sword light parted the darkness, tearing the canopy to shreds.
Mingyan was fortunate; because of her concern for Ke Lianshan, she had lagged behind the others and avoided the battlefield Zhou Fuyou had carved out.
Yet she was also unfortunate.
After expending a tremendous amount of magic power to unleash that divine ability sword strike bestowed by the Dao Sect following the grotto-heaven tournament years ago, what greeted her was a devastated battlefield strewn with wailing dead, leaving a lone figure standing tall in terrifying solitude.
Zhou Fuyou looked up coldly, his gaze meeting the woman in the distance.
"Mingyan, the prodigy of the master-disciple lineage, the greatest beneficiary of the Dao Sect's recent reforms, and aside from Ke Lianshan, the most likely candidate to succeed the position of sect master."
Mingyan froze, meeting those cold, deep eyes.
"You aren't Zhou Fuyou?"
Immediately, her fair face turned frosty.
"I care not who you are—today, you must die here!"
The sword light rose once more, origin qi stirring in response.
The very strike that had pierced Qi Sea Floating Heaven earlier reappeared in the mortal realm!
A piercing, peerless sword light lanced across the desolate plain, slashing straight toward Zhou Fuyou.
A terrifying sword intent shook the cosmos, making even the Lanke Chessboard beneath their feet seem to tremble.
*Clang!*
The strike fell, splitting the earth asunder and cleaving the distant mountain range in two.
And yet!
A figure stepped leisurely from within it, with only the corner of a hem drifting down.
"A pity. You were off by three inches."
Zhou Fuyou's figure shifted abruptly. Before the woman could react, he took a single stride forward.
When he reappeared, he was already at her side.
He swept his sleeve!
Like a tattered sack, the woman was sent flying dozens of zhang away, while thick black vapor vied to burrow through her seven orifices into her internal organs.
Mingyan struggled to her feet, leaning on her sword. As she suppressed the corrosive black vapor racking her body, she stared at Zhou Fuyou's back in sheer terror.
That sword strike could not have missed!
Her divine sense had locked onto Zhou Fuyou completely.
Yet that strike had indeed missed—by a mere three inches, severing only a fluttering corner of his robe.
This sight was unbelievable, yet it stirred an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
It seemed that deep within her memory, this scene had occurred before.
When was it?
In a daze, Mingyan seemed to return to the days of the grotto-heaven grand tournament.
Once, there had been someone who used a similar method to evade the fatal strike of the Gu clan expert's Mirror of No Delusion.
It was the Desolate Hermit!
"Luo Chen, it's you!"
A furious voice erupted from behind.
Zhou Fuyou—no, after the remnant life soul returned, the one who took control of this body was already Luo Chen.
Without looking back, he stepped forward, his eyes fixed solely on the re-stabilizing origin qi vortex.
Though he lacked his Scarlet Golden Pupils, Luo Chen could still perceive vast spiritual opportunity channeling through that vortex toward the God Descent Array outside.
And all of this was only barely achieved because Ke Lianshan had dispersed his own cultivation and burned a thousand years of Dao attainment.
"Chess Saint, why go this far?"
Ke Lianshan's deadened gaze met Luo Chen's across the distance.
"You can no longer stop me."
As he spoke, pillars of light erupted from the desolate plain, completely enclosing Ke Lianshan's position.
He had activated the Lanke Chessboard!
With a complete spiritual treasure shielding him, Luo Chen truly could not stop him while controlling Zhou Fuyou's body.
Perhaps his true body could have done so if it were here!
Yet Luo Chen had other means!
His expression grew dark and grim. Soaring toward the vortex, the aura across his body began to surge uncontrollably.
A destructive presence gradually enveloped the entire Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven.
Chapter 1082