Recalling the journey she had taken so far.
From her rise in Longyou by slaying demons in unexpected ways, to flattening the demons surrounding the Great Tang, and then pushing all the way through the Yu Mountain Great Range.
From Hearing the String, she had stepped by step reached Denglou Perfection.
This current step was undoubtedly the most difficult and longest stretch of road she had traveled since entering the path of cultivation.
Now.
She was only one final step away.
She had originally intended to sit cross-legged on the bed in this room to break through her realm.
But as soon as the thought arose, she suppressed it.
Recalling the kind of commotion she had caused in the past.
If she truly caused some world-shaking disturbance here...
"Better not destroy this place."
With that thought.
Jiang Yuechu's figure swayed slightly, her black robe's hem leaving a faint trail in the air.
She rose directly into the sky.
Silently, she escaped the city walls of Chang'an.
She sped westward.
Crossing several continuous mountain peaks, she traveled over a hundred miles.
Finally, deep within the wilderness, she found a secluded cliff where no one was around and slowly descended.
The night wind was cold and harsh, and an unnamed stream gurgled at the bottom of the cliff.
Jiang Yuechu sat cross-legged on a flat green stone.
Her mind sank inward.
[Current Dao Cultivation: 21,116,210 years]
Her gaze shifted downward.
Falling upon the newly appeared golden writing.
"Suppressing Hell and Subduing Evil: Chess Condensation Chapter" (Not yet initiated).
Without the slightest hesitation.
Infuse.
Her vast Dao Cultivation surged frantically into this brand-new Cultivation Technique.
Jiang Yuechu closed her eyes.
Within her Meridians, the long-accumulated Chaos aura began to churn violently.
However.
When the Dao Cultivation number on the panel plummeted by a full three million years.
The momentum of the deduction came to a sudden halt.
["Suppressing Hell and Subduing Evil: Chess Condensation Chapter" (Initiated)]
[dao chess piece not condensed, central palace not established, unable to continue deduction]
Jiang Yuechu opened her eyes.
Merely crossing this first threshold to reach the initiated stage.
It had consumed over three million years.
The threshold for this Chess Condensation Method was indeed ridiculously high.
[Current Dao Cultivation: 18,116,210 years]
She glanced at her remaining Dao Cultivation, not feeling pained by these numbers.
Nor did she continue to think about the astronomical figures required for future deductions.
At this moment, the most important thing was this final step.
She turned her wrist.
That foot-long Lihuo Golden Sheath, wrapped entirely in golden sinew cloth, quietly fell into her palm.
She was silent for a while.
Deep within her pitch-black eyes, her previous indifference completely faded away.
Replacing it was a look of unwavering determination that left no room for retreat.
Her five fingers suddenly exerted force.
*Crack.*
The layer of sinew cloth on the surface of the golden scabbard, made of some unknown material, was crushed to pieces.
A ball of light, brilliant to the extreme, soared into the sky from her palm.
Jiang Yuechu opened her mouth.
And took a sudden, deep breath.
The firelight, along with the shattered golden metal Qi, was swallowed into her belly in one gulp.
Transform the object of dao integration, condense the dao chess piece, and establish the central palace.
The moment the Lihuo entered her belly.
Jiang Yuechu's Physical Body suddenly jolted violently.
Her skin cracked open, and a brilliant blood-red glow intertwined with the Lihuo, radiating through her body.
Three hundred and sixty-five acupoints all burst open simultaneously.
She forcibly restrained that violent Lihuo golden Qi, pressing it all the way down into the depths of her Qi Sea.
Within the Qi Sea.
That mass of Chaos aura, formed from the Fusion of five top-grade heart materials, finally welcomed its true core.
Metal and fire complemented each other, transforming the formless into the tangible.
The Chaos was forcibly split apart.
Clear Qi rose, while turbid Qi descended.
Deep within the Qi Sea.
A massive sculpture was slowly condensing out of nothingness.
At the moment the dao chess piece solidified.
Above the desolate cliff, the world changed color.
For a hundred miles around, blood-colored baleful aura covered the sky and earth.
The clouds rolled, emitting a muffled roar.
Thousands of phantom demons soared from Jiang Yuechu's acupoints, letting out ear-piercing, sharp shrieks in unison.
The sound waves pierced through the clouds.
Immediately following.
The blood-colored baleful aura filling the sky solidified into substance.
A peerlessly massive palace slowly descended within the Void Realm.
Compared to the underwater immortal palace of The Main Seat Wu Xiang she had seen before, which was clear blue and exuded an immortal aura... the palace before her appeared far more hideous and terrifying.
Giant pillars forged from black mist supported the heavens.
Dark red blood-light served as the tiles, stretching on endlessly.
The palace gates towered a hundred zhang high; upon the bronze doors were engraved the scenes of thousands of demons being decapitated, the carving style harsh and cold, with every stroke overflowing with intense Death Qi.
Nine hundred and ninety-nine dark red jade steps cascaded down from the gates.
Suppressing Hell and Subduing Evil.
The central palace appears!
As this great hall completely stabilized.
In the center of the hall, at the highest point, a phantom slowly emerged from the faint light and finally sat down steadily.
The phantom's face gradually became clear, looking exactly like Jiang Yuechu.
But she was now clad in a voluminous black robe interwoven with dark red blood patterns, its long hem trailing on the ground.
The phantom's eyes were slightly closed, her expression indifferent, hands folded over her knees—the very image of majesty that held life and death in its hands and looked down upon all living beings.
The moment the phantom took her seat.
The space to the left of the hall distorted violently.
The dao chess piece, previously formed from the intertwining of the Lihuo Golden Sheath and Chaos aura, also manifested.
It transformed into a statue standing below.
The statue was tightly wrapped in Chaos black mist, its face and figure completely obscured.
Only the hand emerging from the black mist held a blurred scabbard upside down.
Jiang Yuechu's gaze swept over the statue.
Writing appeared before her.
[dao chess piece: Hell-Suppressing Sword Guard (Not yet enlightened)]
Hmm?
Jiang Yuechu slowly frowned.
Not yet enlightened... what does that mean?
Following that, another line of text appeared deep within her Spiritual Terrace.
[Slay demons and reshape their bodies to merge them into the dao chess piece for complete enlightenment.]
Tsk...
After all that, it still comes back to the path of slaying demons.
She shook her head helplessly, not dwelling on it too much for now.
The most urgent task now was to completely solidify this newly born central palace.
Jiang Yuechu focused her mind, and the five heart materials within her body were all infused into the central palace above.
The outline of the great hall became increasingly solid.
The pressure between the phantom's brows also grew heavier.
The so-called Chess Player stage.
Hearing the String and Bone Resonance, Core Formation and entering the Dao.
Ink Dot Realm paints the form, Seed Lotus brings life.
Mountain Gazing separates Yin and Yang, Lighting the Lamp illuminates the true spirit.
Ascending the Tower is climbing the steps.
This path of cultivation, climbing from the bottom up, is all about following the mandate of heaven.
Even if one reaches Denglou Perfection and has a Lifespan of thousands of years, they are ultimately just a piece on the chessboard.
To be picked up and placed at will.
To be discarded or smashed at will.
But being a Chess Player.
It is to truly jump out of the chessboard, changing from a manipulated dead piece into the one who holds and places the pieces.
Who knows how much time passed.
The grey-blue of the horizon completely faded.
A red sun leapt out from the sea of clouds.
Above the desolate cliff, the gale abruptly stopped.
The heavy blood-colored clouds hanging in the Nine Heavens suddenly surged backward, all vanishing into the young girl's crown.
The girl suddenly opened her eyes.
In the depths of her dark, profound eyes, the miniature of a magnificent palace flashed and vanished.
The mountain wind whistled.
Jiang Yuechu slowly stood up.
She didn't intentionally activate the Qi within her.
But the moment she stood straight.
Within a hundred-mile radius.
All the birds and beasts deep in the mountain forests lowered their heads in unison.
Jiang Yuechu raised her right hand and looked indifferently at her slender fingers.
Deep within her pitch-black eyes, there were no ripples, no sorrow, and no joy.
Eighteen years old.
Breaking through Ascending the Tower, establishing the central palace, and condensing the dao chess piece.
From this point on, she had leaped out of the cage.
True Lord Xuan Yang of Yujing Tower, the silver-haired old woman of Xirang Mountain.
Those powerful Main Seats who had sat high above the clouds for hundreds of thousands of years, looking down on all living beings.
From today onward.
She, Jiang Yuechu, had the qualification to stand on equal footing with them.
Jiang Yuechu lowered her arm.
Her gaze crossed the cliff, swept over the boundless and vast mountains and seas, and fixed on the end of the world.
Chess Player.
Attained!