Black mist came whistling in.
Jiang Yuechu's face flickered in and out of sight within the mist.
Her slender right leg brought forth an afterimage that tore through the Void Realm, whipping down fiercely toward the old man's head once more.
Facing such a sharp offensive.
The old man no longer thought of resisting... Wang Canglan was already dead, and he had no desire to tangle with this girl any further.
Anger?
Perhaps there was some.
But at his Realm, no emotion could outweigh profit.
The young girl before him had not only displayed strength and talent that crushed Wang Canglan, but also an astonishing Heart-Nature.
If she could be used for his own purposes.
She might be an even more perfect vessel than Wang Canglan.
Though she was arrogant to the extreme, attempting to make the Heavens bow.
But in the face of absolute strength and rules, there has never been anyone in this world who truly refuses to bow their head.
As long as she still wanted to ascend.
As long as she still craved more powerful strength.
The old man smiled indifferently.
He watched the sharp whip-kick coming down at his head, and his body suddenly became illusory at that moment.
"Since you have chosen this path, then be prepared."
A calm voice rang out amidst the gale.
The old man's body was like a sand sculpture blown apart by the wind.
It disintegrated inch by inch.
Turning into countless fine golden specks of light, it swept toward the horizon with the wind.
Boom!!!
Jiang Yuechu's whip-kick missed.
The violent force smashed heavily into the ground.
Jiang Yuechu stopped where she was.
She frowned, watching the golden specks of light scattering across the sky.
She couldn't help but feel a bit of helplessness in her heart.
Those old bastards of the Chess Player Realm... setting everything else aside, their ability to escape alone really left one at a loss.
Moreover.
Even if she had exhausted all her foundations just now to beat this old man to death.
It would likely have been nothing more than destroying one of his Clones.
As long as she couldn't find the location of his central palace.
It was impossible to kill him completely.
This kind of loach that couldn't be killed or caught was truly a buzzkill.
Jiang Yuechu slowly calmed the blood and Qi within her body.
The black mist rolling around her also receded, all of it entering her acupoints.
She let out a long breath of pent-up air.
Suppressing the killing intent in her heart for the time being.
At that moment.
The golden specks of light in mid-air that had not yet fully dispersed suddenly gathered rapidly.
Turning into a streak of light, they shot out from where the old man had originally been standing.
The streak of light came to a sudden halt three feet in front of Jiang Yuechu, hovering in mid-air.
It was a Jade Slip made entirely of crimson gold.
Extremely mysterious patterns flowed across the surface of the Jade Slip, emitting a faint, warm luster.
The old man's final voice drifted slowly out of the Jade Slip, echoing in Jiang Yuechu's ear.
"Step into the rank of Chess Player as soon as possible; we will naturally come looking for you."
The voice gradually faded away.
Wangchuan Valley returned to complete, deathly silence.
Jiang Yuechu stared at the crimson-gold Jade Slip hovering before her and remained silent for a while.
Subsequently.
She took a step and strode forward.
Reaching out with her fair hand, she grabbed the crimson-gold Jade Slip firmly in her palm.
Without hesitation, she probed into the Jade Slip.
Buzz.
A crisp buzzing sound instantly rang in her mind.
Immediately after, the golden light flared brilliantly.
A vast, sea-like scripture, obscure and complex, slowly unfurled deep within her Spiritual Terrace.
Great Derivation Pure Yang Supreme Chess Condensation Record.
Jiang Yuechu's pupils contracted sharply.
Her fingers gripping the Jade Slip tightened slightly without her realizing it.
Although she wasn't well-educated and didn't understand much of that flowery vocabulary.
She still recognized the two words "Chess Condensation" in the name.
She knew them.
Her breathing came to an extremely brief halt at that moment.
For the first time, an unmaskable shock appeared on her stunningly beautiful face.
This was...
A Chess Condensation Method?
A divine object that Cultivators all over the world dreamed of, yet was held tightly by the The Main Seats of the Twenty-Five Lineages.
And yet, it was just casually tossed here by that old man.
Jiang Yuechu looked down at the warm crimson-gold Jade Slip in her palm and fell into deep thought.
This old man was a Chess Player Realm big shot from Yujing Tower, and Wang Canglan was the head disciple of Yujing Tower.
She had brutally crushed Wang Canglan right in front of the old man's face.
This was equivalent to slapping Yujing Tower in the face.
It also severed the blood and sweat Yujing Tower had poured in for over a thousand years.
For any normal Sect elder.
Even if they didn't care about their reputation.
They should have fought with their lives on the line to grind her bones to dust and scatter her ashes right then and there.
Instead, not only did the old man not take action.
He even presented her with a Chess Condensation Method.
Before leaving, he even left behind those extremely eerie words.
"Step into the rank of Chess Player as soon as possible; we will naturally come looking for you."
Jiang Yuechu frowned.
What kind of bullshit logic was this?
It was like someone kicking open your front door.
Right in front of your face.
They strangle to death the top-tier precious son you painstakingly raised for a thousand years, the one you relied on to carry on the family line.
They even scatter his ashes into the sewer.
And then you, as the father.
Not only do you not pick up a knife to hack them.
Instead, you amiably hand them the key to your ancestral safe.
While you're at it, you pat their shoulder.
And say with a look of gratification.
"Little girl, you sure play dirty."
"I see your physique is much stronger than that dead son of mine."
"Here."
"This is my entire fortune."
"Take it and spend it."
"Hurry up, take the money, and eat and drink well."
"Grow up nice and plump soon."
"Then I'll come find you to play."
If this wasn't having a bubble in the brain.
Then they must have some ulterior motive.
Obviously.
Those old bastards who could Cultivate to the Chess Player Realm and had lived for who knows how many tens of thousands of years.
Definitely didn't have bubbles in their brains.
So, it could only be an ulterior motive.
Jiang Yuechu's gaze gradually turned cold.
Recalling the words spoken between Wang Canglan and the other party earlier, the way the old man looked at her... and the way he looked at Wang Canglan.
There wasn't even the slightest emotional ripple of an elder looking at a Junior.
There was only the indifference of looking at goods, a consumable that could be replaced at any time.
Perhaps, in the eyes of that Chess Player Realm old monster from Yujing Tower.
The famous and brilliantly talented Wang Canglan of the Eastern Region.
Was not some future Lord of Heaven and Earth at all.
Nor was he some Sect successor with high hopes pinned on him.
He was merely a chamber pot for containing something...
So what exactly was he supposed to contain?
The answer was obvious.
The Painting Realm.
Above Chess Condensation, it should be the Painting Realm.
But here was the problem.
The Twenty-Five Lineages of the Eastern Region.
Those high and mighty The Main Seats.
Which one of them wasn't a monster who had lived for over a hundred thousand years or even longer?
But why.
After so many years.
The The Main Seats of the Twenty-Five Lineages were still in the Chess Player Realm.
Why hadn't a single person truly stepped into that legendary Painting Realm?
Could it be that these old fogies were content to be stuck in the Chess Player Realm for their entire lives?
Absolutely impossible.
A flash of realization crossed Jiang Yuechu's eyes.
The only explanation was.
They didn't dare to Breakthrough.
Or rather, they couldn't Breakthrough.
Or perhaps.
Breaking through to the Painting Realm required paying some sort of tragic price that they simply couldn't, or wouldn't, bear.
For example.
It would bring about a Great Tribulation of Heaven and Earth that would reduce even those in the Chess Player Realm to ashes.
For example.
Once one stepped into the Painting Realm, they would become some kind of Puppet controlled by the Heavenly Dao.
Or even.
The Painting Realm itself was a "touch it and die" situation?
The more Jiang Yuechu thought about it, the more chilled she felt in her heart.
These old geezers' hearts were too filthy... they poured in countless resources to put Wang Canglan on a pedestal.
Giving him the best Cultivation Techniques.
Giving him the highest status.
Dosing him with the delusion that he was the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
Making Wang Canglan race toward the Painting Realm with unwavering devotion and no turning back.
By the time Wang Canglan went through all that hardship and finally smashed open the gates of the Painting Realm.
He might only then discover... that the reality was not at all what he had imagined.