Chess Piece

“You are... violating the rules!” the Lord of Yuanxi said in a heavy voice. “The one violating the rules is you, Lord of Yuanxi! All you needed to do was follow the established plan step by step, grinding down the Gate of Fate to secure victory. Why take this superfluous step?” The Lord of Creation’s expression turned icy. “You could have chosen to stall the Fate Dao Ancestor, allowing us to destroy the Gate of Fate as quickly as possible, and... allow us to strip away the spirituality of all living beings!” “Follow the plan step by step?” The spiritual fluctuations emanating from the Lord of Yuanxi were no longer as gentle and refreshing as a spring breeze. “Do you truly believe that if you left the Fate Dao Ancestor with no hope whatsoever, He would quietly let you grind down the Gate of Fate piece by piece and willingly walk toward His demise?” “Whatever means He possesses, we will meet them!” the Lord of Shenluo said impassively. “On the contrary, your peculiar behavior right now, Lord of Yuanxi, makes me suspect whether you have already been corrupted by the power of Fate, unconsciously setting foot on the path of betraying our Hunyuan Realm.” “Indeed. Yuanxi, do you intend to incite a civil war within the Hunyuan Realm?” the Lord of Changsheng added immediately. “Civil war.” The Lord of Yuanxi understood full well why this Ruler brought up those words. All along, He had done everything in His power to avoid a civil war. Yet now, the Nine Rulers seemed to treat this very restraint as His weakness. “So, is this a threat?” The Lord of Yuanxi’s spiritual fluctuations regained their calm. Yet beneath that stillness, the Nine Rulers could distinctly sense an icy chill, like the calm before an impending storm. At once, the Lord of Xiyu chimed in, “I am merely stating what will happen if we continue this confrontation. Neither side wishes to see a civil war, especially when the fruits of victory are within our immediate grasp.” “The fruits of victory.” Looking at the Nine Rulers confronting Him head-on, the Lord of Yuanxi suddenly remarked, “Is it possible that this very standoff right now is part of the Fate Dao Ancestor’s counterattack?” “Doesn’t that prove all the more that the Fate Dao Ancestor never intended to yield so easily?” the Lord of Creation retorted at once. “His so-called merger with you is nothing but a ruse to numb our guard! We must not fall for it!” “I know full well whether the Fate Dao Ancestor’s merger is genuine or false,” the Lord of Yuanxi said. The spiritual power surrounding Him was like an abyss; none knew what terrifying might it would unleash if fully erupted. Yet He maintained His composure. “My prerequisite for avoiding a civil war was that you still abide by the rules. But now, you... are already breaking them.” This attitude made the Nine Rulers completely certain that the merger between the Lord of Yuanxi and the Fate Dao Ancestor was irreversible. In that case, He was left with only two choices. One was to press forward unwaveringly with the merger, gambling that He would emerge victorious in the end. The other... To give up in despair. To admit defeat to the Fate Dao Ancestor, acknowledging that He was being corrupted by Fate. And should that happen... All intelligent beings and immortal spirits in the Hunyuan Realm would inevitably abandon the Lord of Yuanxi, transferring all the spirituality and computing power they contributed directly to the Nine Rulers! The Nine Rulers would then truly take the reins of the great Hunyuan Realm, ascending to the dream realm of power they had always yearned for! Thus... Some of the more impatient Rulers began to speak without reservation. “Rules are meant to be broken!” The Lord of Tianyuan said indifferently, “The evolution of rules must keep pace with the times! Only by continuously amending and refining the rules can we adapt to the tides of the era and the changes in society! The Hunyuan Realm is about to devour the Ancient Immortal Realm, doubling its scale. Relying on old rules is fundamentally inappropriate! Therefore, for the sake of progress and the development of our world, there is nothing wrong with what we are doing!” The other Rulers remained silent, but clearly endorsed the Lord of Tianyuan’s words. Rules were meant to be broken. And so... At this moment, rules ceased to exist. The Lord of Yuanxi fell silent. Yet His gaze did not linger on the Nine Rulers; instead, He turned curiously toward the Fate Dao Ancestor. “Is this the power of Fate?” “Partly, but not entirely.” The Fate Dao Ancestor’s ripple of will was like a clear spring, rippling within the Lord of Yuanxi’s spiritual awareness. “You miscalculated something: the selfishness of intelligent beings—or perhaps, human nature? Though you belong to the collective will of all living beings, you exist by virtue of rules. Thus, you do not understand the treachery of the heart, nor do you comprehend that before true self-interest, everything can be broken, and everything can be trampled underfoot.” “No, I calculated that and factored it into my simulations. However... while the Nine Rulers might create trouble to protect their interests, they should not have gone this far.” For what seemed like the first time, doubt surfaced in the Lord of Yuanxi. “What is it that drives them to stand against Me, even at the risk of inciting a civil war and suffering total defeat in this war between two realms? I deduced every variable, factoring in their desires, greed, and malice to the utmost degree... Yet in the face of annihilation and extinction, all desires are trivial. Their resolve should not be this unyielding.” “What drives people to make decisions beyond the bounds of reason is never desire, nor greed, nor malice,” the Fate Dao Ancestor answered calmly. “It is hope!” “Hope?” The Lord of Yuanxi was taken aback. “Yes, hope,” the Fate Dao Ancestor replied. “The greatest mistake you made was giving the Nine Rulers hope.” He explained, “The Gate of Karma was the seed I cast out—a seed that granted hope to the Nine Rulers. Before breaking the Gate of Karma, although the Nine Rulers held great influence in the Hunyuan Realm and could even interfere with some of your decisions, you were still the one who truly controlled this war and held sway over the Hunyuan Realm. But once the Gate of Karma fell, the Nine Rulers obtained unprecedented authority. Faced with the impending decisive battle, you were extremely cautious, not reigning them in or paying close attention to that shift. Instead, you focused all your energy on Me to prevent my final counterattack...” How swiftly the Lord of Yuanxi’s computing power operated. By the time the Fate Dao Ancestor reached this point, He already understood what He meant. Only... He had truly never expected it. What empowered the Nine Rulers and gave them the confidence to stand firmly against Him was actually... Hope! “They saw your weakness. Even if... it was not truly a weakness, in their eyes, a being with a weakness was no longer invincible. As mortals say, a god that bleeds is no longer a god!” The Fate Dao Ancestor’s will resumed its unhurried rhythm. “At this critical juncture, I chose to merge myself into you, and you accepted that choice. It was as though you granted them hope, only to ruthlessly snatch it away at the very moment it was about to be realized.” Upon hearing this, the Lord of Yuanxi did not reply for a long time. He seemed to be computing at full speed how to break this game orchestrated by the Fate Dao Ancestor through the power of Fate. Given enough time, He might have found an answer. However... The Nine Rulers clearly would not allow Him to drag out the clock. And this was precisely the brilliant stroke of the Fate Dao Ancestor’s design. In the end, the Lord of Yuanxi remarked with a touch of admiration, “What an ingenious gambit to seek survival in the jaws of death. Every link is tightly forged, leaving us no room to catch our breath once unleashed. So this is your true capability.” “You flatter me,” the Fate Dao Ancestor replied, devoid of joy or sorrow. “So in truth, I am the one who lost?” As the Lord of Yuanxi spoke, an unusual ripple ran through His spiritual fluctuations. After all, not long ago, the Fate Dao Ancestor had admitted that He was the one who lost. Now it seemed that those words, ‘I lost,’ had merely been a rhetorical question. “From the looks of it, indeed,” said the Fate Dao Ancestor. “Unless you still possess some means to stage a desperate counterattack.” “A counterattack...” Hearing this, the Lord of Yuanxi’s spiritual fluctuations grew animated instead. He let out a chuckle. “It is not as if I have none. For instance... my sheer resolve.” “Shutting yourself down and handing over all spiritual computing power to the Nine Rulers?” the Fate Dao Ancestor inquired. “Not shutting down,” the Lord of Yuanxi said, looking at the Fate Dao Ancestor. “Rather, taking you with me into oblivion. Or at the very least, dealing you a grievous blow so that you, the Fate Dao Ancestor, will be unable to interfere with the workings of both realms for a very long time.” He chuckled softly. “In the end, I may lose and perish, but the Nine Rulers will ultimately grind down the Gate of Fate, and the Hunyuan Realm will emerge as the final victor.” When He spoke of death, He did not mean mutual destruction with the Fate Dao Ancestor; He merely meant to prove that it was He who lost, not the Hunyuan Realm. As long as that point was proven, given the understanding of life and death held by the Lord of Yuanxi and the Fate Dao Ancestor—which differed fundamentally from that of 'intelligent beings'—this war would still end with the Fate Dao Ancestor willingly merging into the Lord of Yuanxi and the Ancient Immortal Realm integrating into the Hunyuan Realm. “The Nine Rulers cannot grind down the Gate of Fate,” the Fate Dao Ancestor said with a smile. “The Ancient Immortal Realm has no pieces left to play. As long as you, the Fate Dao Ancestor, are powerless to interfere, I believe they are capable of achieving at least that much.” The Lord of Yuanxi was equally confident. “Years from now, when the Hunyuan Realm and Ancient Immortal Realm are fully merged as one, the collective will of all living beings will reconvene, and the Lord of Yuanxi will be resurrected once more.” “Who said our Ancient Immortal Realm has no pieces left to play?” the Fate Dao Ancestor chuckled. “Hm?” The three thousand Grand Daos flashed once more across the Lord of Yuanxi’s mind. He quickly confirmed that there was no longer a single Dao Ancestor remaining in the Ancient Immortal Realm. Yet the Fate Dao Ancestor was so composed... “Who is it?” The Fate Dao Ancestor’s gaze instantly settled upon a certain figure. Following the ripples of His will, the Lord of Yuanxi also saw the person He spoke of. “Yuxiao?” “No!” The Fate Dao Ancestor reiterated, “Yaoguang.” “Yaoguang?!” The Lord of Yuanxi scrutinized him intently. “He can defeat the Nine Rulers?” The Fate Dao Ancestor spoke slowly, “Blessed uniquely by heaven, bearing the power of the Void Dao Ancestor, the Time Dao Ancestor, and the Karma Dao Ancestor all in one body...” Unshakable in His conviction, the Dao Ancestor stated decisively, “He can!”