Upon the Dao Tablets, the radiance flickered.
The lingering echoes of the sinister voice remained, and a sense of oppression already filled the hall.
True Lord Xuan Yang's expression remained unchanged, and he was not annoyed.
He knew the tempers of these Old Things all too well.
Having lived for untold years, each was extremely conceited and would yield to no one; even though they were in the same boat, their mutual trust was as thin as a cicada's wing.
But then again...
His lips twitched slightly; although he understood how preposterous this matter was, it had, after all, come from the mouth of True Lord Xuan Yang.
Was the reputation of his Chunyang Lineage really so worthless?
Thinking of this.
True Lord Xuan Yang's voice was neither fast nor slow, showing not a hint of emotional fluctuation.
"What benefit would I gain from making things up or fabricating lies? Since this girl rose from the Wen Xian Realm, it has been barely over a year. Her Prodigy-level talent is far beyond what you or I can fathom."
Moreover.
Although they knew of this girl, they had never truly paid her much mind.
After all, they were all The Main Seats of their respective Dao Lineages; who would be bored enough to stare at a young girl every day? The Main Seats each had their own Dao Lineages to manage and their own affairs to attend to.
A little girl of unknown origin, no matter how good her Aptitude, was not worth their daily attention.
At most, they would cast a glance her way every now and then.
The only one who had truly put in any effort was Profound Sun alone.
"If you do not believe me."
True Lord Xuan Yang's voice turned cold.
"Then go and peer into it yourselves."
As soon as these words were spoken.
The three Dao Tablets simultaneously fell silent.
After about a dozen breaths.
The previous sinister voice did not reappear.
Instead, the light on the second Dao Tablet trembled slightly.
An old and deep voice slowly rang out.
"There is no need. Just as Fellow Daoist Profound Sun finished speaking, I already had the thought to investigate... but..."
He paused.
"I can no longer peer into it."
As the words fell.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly froze.
"With my methods, if the opponent were still in the Deng Lou Realm... even across thousands of mountains and rivers, it would be no more than lifting a thin veil."
"But this time, it was like facing an abyss, with nothing to be found. It seems she likely already... has the support of a central palace."
"For a Chess Player, the central palace becomes a world of its own, impenetrable to external forces; this is common knowledge."
"In all my years of cultivation, I have never seen any method that would allow one in the Deng Lou Realm to withstand the scrutiny of a Chess Player Cultivator."
The person who had previously questioned fell silent.
A moment later.
That sinister voice surfaced again, its tone having lost much of its edge, yet still carrying a hint of suspicion.
"...Truly?"
No one answered.
But no answer was already the best answer.
The hall was deathly silent.
The lights on the three Dao Tablets flickered independently.
Casting shifting shadows upon the purple-gold copper walls.
Who knows how much time passed.
The third Dao Tablet finally showed some movement.
The one who had remained silent until now.
Their voice was extremely faint, like the sound of wind from ten thousand miles away, making it impossible to tell if they were male or female, young or old.
"Then let us assume it is true... Since she has already stepped into the Chess Player stage, things have become much simpler."
"Fellow Daoist Profound Sun, next..."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
The first voice cut in, its tone shifting from previous disbelief to urgency.
"Since this girl is indeed a Prodigy, why not strike while the iron is hot? Hurry and send the object of dao integration to her. Her central palace has just been established and her Foundation is not yet stable; this is exactly when she needs resources. Feed her early, push her into the Painting Realm sooner, so that we may also free ourselves earlier."
At this point.
The light on the third Dao Tablet suddenly brightened.
The voice of indeterminate gender spoke again.
"Wait a moment."
The hall fell silent again.
"Don't you think... it's too fast?"
Silence.
The voice continued, "Think carefully, everyone. Condensing the Chess Piece in a dozen days—has there ever been a precedent for such speed in the hundreds of thousands of years of the Eastern Region's history?"
"No."
"Wang Canglan cultivated for sixteen hundred years, and Yujing Tower exhausted the entire heritage of the Chunyang Lineage just to push him to Denglou Perfection."
"Even so, he was still a step away from Condensing the Chess Piece."
"But this girl."
"From Hearing the String to becoming a Chess Player, it has been barely over a year at most."
"With such speed... do you truly believe that once the object of dao integration is sent, you and I will still be able to control her?"
As soon as these words were spoken.
The previously urgent voice suddenly went silent.
Not out of fear.
But because they thought of a problem that had been previously overlooked.
After a few breaths.
The monk-like voice from the second Dao Tablet said slowly, "With Fellow Daoist Profound Sun's Chess Condensation Method pinned within her body... it should... be fine."
So it was said.
But the tone was no longer as certain as before.
It even carried a hint of lack of confidence.
"Should?"
The voice on the third Dao Tablet repeated those two words.
"Everyone."
"Who can guarantee... that what this girl is practicing is truly the Chess Condensation Method of the Chunyang Lineage?"
The hall was deathly silent.
True Lord Xuan Yang's brow finally furrowed. "In that case, what are you implying?"
"The Chess Condensation Method was handed to her only a dozen days ago... If she had honestly contemplated and cultivated it, a dozen days wouldn't even be enough to understand it, let alone succeed in Condensing the Chess Piece. Yet she succeeded... there is only one explanation."
"She didn't follow the method you gave her at all, or rather... she has another way."
True Lord Xuan Yang's pupils constricted slightly.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought of this possibility.
It was just that he had been subconsciously avoiding it.
Because if this suspicion were true.
What would that mean?
It meant that the hidden traps he had meticulously arranged were useless from the start.
If she did not practice this method, then the backup plan buried within the Great Derivation Pure Yang Supreme Chess Condensation Record—the key link to forcibly extract the object of dao integration when the scroll unfurls...
...would be rendered useless.
When the object of dao integration is sent out at that time.
It won't be retrievable.
Then what the hell is the point?
...
The hall fell silent for a long time.
So long that even the light on the Dao Tablets dimmed slightly.
The first voice finally surfaced again.
This time, all previous urgency and disdain had completely vanished.
"Then what should we do? The object of dao integration—do we give it or not?"
No one answered.
Another long while passed.
True Lord Xuan Yang spoke slowly.
"Give it."
"Are you crazy?"
"And if we don't give it?"
True Lord Xuan Yang opened his eyes.
Within those cloudy old eyes, a sharp light flashed and vanished.
"Since she has already become a Chess Player, she is no longer the girl who could be easily manipulated at will."
"Though this world is vast, who else is there who can achieve the Painting Realm in a short time?"
Moreover.
He paused.
"The hidden traps in the Chess Condensation Method might not work... but the object of dao integration itself can also be tampered with."
The lights on the three Dao Tablets trembled simultaneously.
The third voice was silent for a moment before finally letting out a soft grunt of agreement.
"Then we shall do as you say."
"But Profound Sun."
"Yes."
"If this step is taken wrongly."
The voice of indeterminate gender slowly faded.
At the end, it left one last sentence.
"The hundreds of thousands of years of our efforts will fall entirely into the hands of an eighteen-year-old girl."