Chapter 79: Playing Chess, Gains, Obstruction
Xiang Wanqing lifted her bloodless face, her large eyes looking toward you as she gave a slight shake of her head.
“I must finish this game of chess, even if I die here!”
Fuck! You cursed inwardly. To complete this mission, you grabbed Xiang Wanqing's arm without another word and yanked her to her feet.
“You want to die? Wait until we leave the Holy City, then die however you like!”
Ignoring Xiang Wanqing's resistance, you pulled her to leave this place.
“If this game isn't finished, we can't leave.” Xiang Wanqing told you that this place was bound by the rules of heaven and earth. If the entire game of chess was not completed, then even a Spirit Transformation cultivator could not break free!
Following your attempts, you indeed discovered curtains of light all around. No matter what methods you used, you could not break them.
Xiang Wanqing broke free of your grip and returned to the black chess position, intending to continue the match.
Looking at Xiang Wanqing's appearance, as though she could die at any moment, you cursed inwardly and then directly seized the seat of the person playing black.
“You tell me, I'll play!” Your voice brooked no refusal.
Xiang Wanqing stood to the side, pressed her lips together, and agreed.
You casually pinched up a black piece and, following the position Xiang Wanqing indicated, pressed it down with one hand.
Just as the black piece was about to touch the board, a powerful force surged from the board, meeting the black piece in your hand head-on.
With a crack, you exerted the power of your physical body and directly crushed this force. The black piece landed heavily on the board.
The illusory figure opposite seemed startled by you. It actually raised its head to glance at you, the corners of its mouth curving in a smile, and a white piece fell.
With Xiang Wanqing guiding you from the side, you were not afraid of playing the wrong position, only doing your utmost to suppress the force within the board.
Fifty rounds in succession, your physical body's power did not diminish; it even advanced a step further.
At this point, even if you understood nothing, you could see that the white pieces were about to have no path of retreat, and black was about to win.
“The last three pieces, Fellow Daoist Wuji, please be careful.” Watching the board's situation, Xiang Wanqing happily transmitted to you.
You nodded to show you understood, then produced a black piece and played again.
This time, you felt the resistance was unprecedentedly powerful, far beyond what the previous intensity could compare to.
Within this force, you sensed the aura of the Heavenly Dao.
To finish this game as quickly as possible, Heavenly Lightning power surged from the finger pinching the black piece, enveloping the entire piece.
The physical body power of half-step Spirit Transformation poured out in full, clashing head-on with this force.
An invisible momentum unfurled between you and the board, the two meeting in direct confrontation.
Xiang Wanqing watched you from the side with a face full of astonishment. Clearly, she had felt it too.
Crack!
This clash lasted a full three breaths. In the end, you still placed the black piece on the board.
The old man opposite seemed to possess a spirit of its own. It actually smiled at you, and then a white piece landed.
Crack!
The black piece in your hand fell in response, striking the board heavily.
The entire board trembled, and the black and white pieces on it seemed about to come alive.
“Just the last step left. It must succeed!” Xiang Wanqing stood to the side, her heart surging with emotion. Within her gaze toward you, an indescribable something had appeared.
Holding the final black piece, you now felt as though you were inside the board itself, personally experiencing the collision between black and white.
The collision between black and white produced wisps of Dao rhyme, like the laws of heaven and earth.
As your final black piece fell, the Heavenly Dao laws represented by the white pieces gathered together to confront you.
Behind you, the black pieces also condensed strands of Heavenly Dao law, augmenting your body, forming a crushing momentum against the white pieces!
In this moment, you felt as though you were situated between heaven and earth. With a single stir of your thoughts, you could grasp all the power in the world. The cultivation arts you practiced were instantly understood in your heart.
The Nine Firmament Zither-Sound Art instantly reached entry level, and then advanced by leaps and bounds, successfully stepping into the Minor Completion Stage!
In a single instant, it was worth decades of bitter cultivation.
The Immortal-rank cultivation arts you practiced, previously unclear in places, were now known one by one.
Your cultivation, without any warning, broke through directly from the fifth layer of Nascent Soul to the sixth layer of Nascent Soul!
The entire process came as naturally as water flowing into a channel, without a single barrier.
Your understanding of the Heavenly Lightning Body-Refining Art and the Taixu Spirit-Refining Art deepened as well. The barrier of half-step Spirit Transformation began to sway, and you had already glimpsed the hope of your physical body and divine sense breaking through to Spirit Transformation!
This kind of enlightenment came quickly and left quickly. As your final black piece landed, the entire board fell into calm.
On the board, the black pieces had successfully surrounded the white pieces completely, wiping out the white pieces one by one.
“Won!” Even the usually steady Xiang Wanqing could not help but exclaim. Her eyes could not resist sweeping over you again and again.
You opened your eyes and looked at the old man's illusory figure before you, and smiled.
“Fellow Daoist's skill is a cut above. I concede.” The old man's illusory figure stood up and bowed to you with cupped hands, then vanished.
On the stone table, only a chessboard remained, along with a jade slip.
Xiang Wanqing stared at the items on the stone table, pressed her lips together, and did not snatch them. Instead, she spoke to you.
“I hope Fellow Daoist Wuji can sell this chessboard to me. The Xiang family will certainly give you rich compensation!”
You picked up the chessboard on the stone table and smiled. “If not for your help this time, I could not have won this game. This is what you deserve.”
You handed the chessboard into Xiang Wanqing's hands without the slightest reluctance. Instead, you kept the jade slip for yourself.
“This…” Xiang Wanqing looked at the chessboard in her hands and stared for a moment.
“The Xiang family will repay you generously in the future!” Xiang Wanqing put away the chessboard and said to you solemnly.
You nodded, looked at the surroundings that had changed greatly, and asked casually, “Do you have anything else in the Holy City?”
Xiang Wanqing shook her head. “No.”
“Then let's go. I'll take you out!” About to complete the mission, your mood was excellent.
You and Xiang Wanqing took out spirit stones and sat in meditation on the spot. After recovering your conditions, you headed out of the City Lord's Mansion.
At the entrance of the City Lord's Mansion, the ten Nascent Soul stage cultivators of the Xiang family were in imminent peril under the assault of the mid-stage Spirit Transformation Remnant Soul.
Moreover, not far away, several groups were watching the show. As soon as they saw you and Xiang Wanqing emerge from the City Lord's Mansion, the greed in their eyes was undisguised.
“Miss Xiang, what did you gain in the City Lord's Mansion?” A tall, thin man at the ninth layer of Nascent Soul spoke up.
Xiang Wanqing shot him a glance and said, “Young Master Wan wants to know? Why not go in and see for yourself!”
“Why stand on ceremony? Hand over the items and I'll let you leave!”