At the highest peak of Xirang Mountain.
Ancient trees stretched out in a continuous expanse, their thick root systems bursting through the soil, intertwining with one another to forcibly support a grand pavilion that reached beyond the sky.
The mountain wind whistled through the forest, rustling the leaves with a mournful sound.
Deep within the pavilion, an old woman with silver hair sat cross-legged with her eyes closed on a prayer mat woven from withered vines.
The internal injuries she had sustained from fighting someone to demand the Lihuo Golden Sheath a few days ago would take some time to slowly nurture and heal.
As she breathed and exhaled, the surrounding wood Qi transformed into wisps of green smoke, snaking into her hunched and withered frame through her nose and mouth.
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from the long steps outside the hall.
The steps were steady, neither hurried nor slow, and the subtle sound of boot soles treading on fallen leaves was carried into the hall along with them.
The old woman opened her eyes, her cloudy vertical pupils looking straight through the hall doors toward the end of the long steps.
Into her view.
The visitor stepped over the extremely high threshold, entered the hall, glanced around, and finally fixed her gaze on the prayer mat.
The old woman's brow furrowed immediately.
Counting the days, it had been less than half a month since she had handed over the Lihuo Golden Sheath.
Why had this girl returned out of thin air?
The old woman raised her hand, tucked the silver hair scattered by her temples behind her ear, and asked in a raspy voice.
"Why have you returned so soon?"
The Girl in Black Robes came to a halt.
There were no pleasantries or excessive explanations; she simply brushed a speck of dust from her sleeve and looked up levelly.
"I have entered the Chess Player Realm."
Five words.
A plain, direct statement.
The old woman was first stunned, and then her withered skin twitched uncontrollably twice.
Even her breathing skipped a beat.
Without even thinking, she immediately projected her Divine Sense, pressing directly toward the Figure in Black.
Under her investigation, it was like a clay ox entering the sea; she only felt that the internal Qi within the other's body was a seamless whole.
The central palace was already firmly established deep within the Qi Sea, isolating all prying eyes and exuding a surging pressure that stood above heaven and earth.
She had truly succeeded.
The old woman's face turned pale.
An extremely absurd thought popped into her head uncontrollably.
Could this dead girl have entered the Chess Player Realm long ago, and all her previous actions were just a disguise to swindle that object of dao integration away?
As soon as the thought arose, she suppressed it herself.
If she had truly entered this Realm early on, how could the old woman have failed to perceive her true depths when she slaughtered fourteen Demon Emperors single-handedly in the main hall of Qingwu Mountain?
That meant she really had taken only ten or so days to cross that heavenly chasm whose threshold most Cultivators under heaven could not even touch in their entire lives.
Shock was shock.
But she was, after all, a figure who had come out of Yunmeng Township; her horizons were broad, far beyond what the natives of this broken world could compare to.
The old woman exhaled a deep breath of turbid air, forcibly suppressing the horror in her heart.
Yunmeng Township was vast and boundless, where ten thousand methods flourished, and it was the place of origin for the Great Dao.
Among the direct Bloodlines of those old monsters in Yunmeng Palace, or the peerless prodigies rarely seen in a thousand years within the nine great human Dao Lineages, there were indeed records of those who had a sudden Epiphany and crossed the threshold into a new world in just a few days.
If one truly used the top-tier yardsticks of Yunmeng Township to measure her.
This girl taking ten or so days for Condensing the Chess Piece would barely rank among the top in Yunmeng Township, but she couldn't be called unprecedented.
But then she thought again.
Which of those direct disciples of the Dao Lineages hadn't been soaked in Heaven And Earth Treasures since childhood? Which one didn't have a Dao Protector at the Chess Player Realm or even higher constantly guiding them and clearing their confusion?
The things they ate and used, the Spiritual Qi they breathed—everything was of the highest quality.
What about this girl?
She was of humble origin, her entire foundation carved out by her own fists and feet.
No famous teacher to show the way, no Dao Lineage to back her up.
Even a proper Chess Condensation Method was something she had just obtained ten days ago from her and that old dog from Yujing Tower.
Using a freshly learned Cultivation Technique, holding a barely adequate object of dao integration, and in this broken world with such thin Spiritual Qi, she had manifested a central palace in just over ten days.
Comparing it like this...
How was this a Genius...
It was more like she was using a cheat.
"Good."
The old woman suppressed her churning thoughts and nodded, her tone softening considerably.
"Very good."
She stood up and stepped off the prayer mat.
"Since you have entered the Chess Player Realm and specifically returned to find me, I assume you have already made a trip to that Spirit Mountain and the item is in hand?"
The old woman's tone carried a hint of irrepressible anticipation.
As long as the star palace atlas was in hand, she could follow the map and send this girl out.
Once the people from Yunmeng Palace arrived, she could completely escape this cage.
Jiang Yuechu stood where she was and shook her head.
"I didn't get the item."
The old woman's face, which had just brightened with joy, immediately darkened, and she was about to press for more details.
The Girl in Black Robes followed up immediately.
"But that White Elephant you mentioned, the one locked in the Lightless Cave, I brought it."
Hearing the second half of the sentence.
The old woman breathed a long sigh of relief, her heart finally settling back into her chest.
True.
That White Elephant had at least been a close attendant of Moyang True Lord back then; it was fiercely loyal and had very tough bones.
That Old Dog Xuanyang had tormented it for so many years without being able to pry its mouth open. It would be a wonder if it had submissively handed over the item to this girl, a newcomer who went there empty-handed.
As long as she had brought it back, it was fine.
"No matter."
The old woman waved her hand, her tone much more relaxed.
"That Beast is stubborn; it is only reasonable that it refused to speak. Regardless, as long as the being is brought here, I will take over personally. I have a thousand ways to make it spit out the truth."
She looked around but didn't see the massive creature.
"Where is it?"
Jiang Yuechu did not answer.
With a flip of her hand, she pulled the Storage Pouch from her waist and turned it upside down.
Accompanied by an extremely dull thud of something hitting the ground.
A mass as large as a mountain crashed heavily onto the floor tiles of the ancient wooden hall.
A stench of blood surged up, instantly overpowering the original fragrance of plants and trees in the hall.
The old woman focused her gaze.
The pure white fur was already matted with dried blood and filth.
The head was nowhere to be found.
In the left side of the chest area, a gaping hole the size of a water vat had been torn open; the inside was empty, as even the internal organs had been completely hollowed out.
It was as dead as could be.
Rotten to the core.
Jiang Yuechu pointed at the pile of mangled meat on the ground, turned her head, and looked at the stunned old woman.
"Tell me, can it still be saved?"
"..."
The old woman suddenly jerked her head up, her finger trembling as she pointed at Jiang Yuechu.
"No..."
"Why did you kill it!"
"No matter how tough this Beast's bones were, as long as it was alive, there were ways to pry its mouth open. But you, you went and beat it into this state, even hollowing out its heart and lungs!"
"Now that you've made it like this, where are we supposed to find the star palace atlas?!"
Facing the old woman's near-breakdown questioning.
Jiang Yuechu frowned slightly.
On her usually calm and exquisite face, a trace of grievance rarely appeared.
"I didn't kill it."
Her voice was flat, tinged with a bit of helplessness.
"When I got there, it was already dead through and through."
The old woman froze.
"It wasn't you?"
Jiang Yuechu nodded and recounted what she had seen and heard in the Lightless Cave.
Hearing this.
The old woman's expression instantly became unsightly.
Her hunched body swayed slightly, and a look of shock and suspicion welled up in her eyes.
"How could someone have beaten us to it?"
The old woman muttered to herself, her withered lips pressed tightly together.
"Pure Yang Qi..."
"Could it be that Old Dog Xuanyang has already obtained the map?"
The more she thought, the more her heart sank.
True Lord Xuan Yang had been coveting the star palace atlas all along, and he hadn't been able to pry the White Elephant's mouth open for all these years.
Now that the White Elephant had met a miserable death and the item had vanished.
Who else could it be but the side of Yujing Tower?
"If that's the case..."
The old woman's skeletal fingers gripped her sleeves tightly, her expression shifting between light and dark.
"Then things will be a bit difficult..."
Once the atlas fell into Xuan Yang's hands, that old dog would hold the key to Yunmeng Township.
The initiative would be entirely with Yujing Tower.
Wouldn't her schemes have been all for naught?
Jiang Yuechu stood there, watching the old woman whose expression kept changing.
She waited for a moment.
Seeing that the other party remained silent for a long time, she asked calmly, "Is there any other way?"
Hearing this.
The old woman snapped out of it.
She took a deep breath.
She withdrew her gaze from the mangled meat and looked at the Girl in Black Robes before her.
"There is naturally a way..."
The old woman hesitated, her voice raspy.
"It's just..."
---
It is not over yet.
The length of the entire book is about two million words.
A little bit of foreshadowing, and the Yunmeng arc will soon begin to be exciting.