Living in the deep palace

Tell me, who's behind you?

Su Chen's voice, like ancient ice, echoed in this desolate Heavenly Court ruins.

He held Tianjizi by the collar with one hand, his pale golden eyes filled with killing intent and the light of reincarnation, as if he could drag the immortal soul of the person before him into endless abyss at any moment.

"Cough...cough cough..." Tianjizi coughed violently, his facade of otherworldly elegance completely gone, replaced by a deep-seated horror and disbelief.
"How...how did you find out?! My 'Heavenly Secret Concealment' technique is so powerful that even a true Grand Luo Golden Immortal couldn't see through it!"

He couldn't understand how his plan, which seemed flawless and meticulously calculated at every step, could have been so perfectly executed. Su Chen's appearance, Zhenyu Canggu's strength, the timing of breaking through the barrier... everything should have been like a chess piece on his "exquisite chessboard," precise and flawless.

"Discovered?" Upon hearing this, Su Chen's lips curled into a mocking smile. "From the moment you delivered that jade slip to my Taiyi Palace, your 'heavenly secrets' have already fallen into my 'cause and effect'."

"You scheme against heaven and earth, you scheme against all living beings, but you have overlooked one thing."

Su Chen's gaze seemed to pierce through Tianjizi's physical body, looking directly at the origin of his immortal soul.

"You don't count as me."

boom!
These words, like a thunderclap from the heavens, exploded in Tianjizi's mind!

He suddenly raised his head, staring intently at Su Chen, his eyes revealing genuine fear for the first time.

Yes… He had calculated everything, but he couldn't fathom the origins and background of the person before him. It was as if this person didn't belong to the causal chain of this universe at all, but was an absolute "anomaly" that appeared out of thin air and couldn't be bound by any heavenly secrets or fate!
"Haha...hahahaha!"

Suddenly, Tianjizi burst into laughter as if he had gone mad, his laughter filled with endless sorrow and self-mockery.

“An anomaly… So that’s how it is… All my scheming throughout the ages has ultimately been defeated by an ‘anomaly’!”

His aura changed abruptly at that moment!

The ethereal and unpredictable Daoist aura belonging to Xuan Yuxian quickly faded away. In its place was a more ancient and refined Golden Immortal Dao, filled with the essence of "exquisite" and "order"!

His figure was no longer that of the gaunt old Taoist priest, but had transformed into a middle-aged immortal wearing a Taoist robe with a star-patterned design, with a handsome face and incredibly complex eyes.

"Fine, since things have come to this, I'll let you, this 'oddity,' die knowing why."

"I am Linglong, an ancient celestial being who held the position of 'Imperial Observatory' in the ancient Heavenly Court, and who deduced heavenly secrets and laid out plans for eternity for Emperor Yuan!"

Exquisite Golden Immortal!

Even Su Chen had seen scattered records of this name in some ancient books.

He was a legendary being whose chess skills were unparalleled. It was said that he could use the heavens and earth as a chessboard and all living beings as chess pieces, calculating every move flawlessly and winning battles from billions of miles away! He was the most resourceful and supreme strategist under Emperor Yuantian!
"You're still alive?" Su Chen frowned slightly.

“Death?” A look of pain appeared on the face of the exquisite golden immortal. “Sometimes, living is more painful than dying.”

A hint of reminiscence flickered in his eyes.

"Back then, the army behind the 'Gate' pressed in, and the Heavenly Court suffered defeat after defeat. Although Emperor Diyuan possessed heaven-defying abilities, he could not hold the line alone. I used the 'Exquisite Chess Game' to deduce the outcome countless times, and all the results pointed to the same thing—"

"Dead end!"

"I am not reconciled!" Linglong Jinxian's voice became agitated. "Our immortal civilization has been passed down for nine eras. How can it be cut off like this?! I am not reconciled with the hegemony of Emperor Yuan, I am not reconciled with our glory, to turn to dust like this!"

"So, I made a choice..."

He took a deep breath and said in a hoarse voice, "I betrayed the Heavenly Court, I betrayed Emperor Yuan, and I took the initiative to contact the 'devourer' that descended here!"

“I told it that I could help it find the ‘Axis of Heaven’ and help it corrupt this universe more quickly. In return, it needed to promise me that it would preserve the last ‘spark’ of the immortal civilization and grant me eternal life!”

Su Chen listened quietly, his eyes growing colder.

Is this the truth behind the destruction of the Heavenly Court?

It wasn't a defeat, but rather a betrayal from within!
"Do you think you can negotiate with a tiger for its skin?"

"Of course I know!" Linglong Jinxian smiled bitterly. "I thought that with my wisdom and my scheming, I could temporarily feign compliance with it, and even find an opportunity to turn against it in the future!"

"But... I was wrong."

I was terribly wrong!

"The true nature of that 'devourer' is beyond our comprehension! In its eyes, so-called wisdom and so-called scheming are nothing but the struggle of ants! The 'immortality' it bestowed upon me was merely binding my true spirit to the filth of this Heavenly Court ruins! It turned me into its 'agent,' a monster that is neither alive nor dead, forever imprisoned here!"

"All these years, I've been waiting for an opportunity! Waiting for a 'variable' that can break this deadlock!"

Linglong Jinxian's gaze was fixed on Su Chen, her eyes filled with a morbid fanaticism!

"Finally, I've been waiting for you!"

"Your appearance, your 'Way of Taiyi,' is the only 'living piece' on my long-dead chessboard that cannot be calculated!"

"As long as... as long as I can seize the 'Heavenly Dao Axis' and offer your 'Taiyi Dao Seed' along with it to my lord! My lord will surely be overjoyed and grant me true liberation, and even... make me its sole representative in this universe!"

"Su Chen! You don't understand! You have no idea what it's like to be imprisoned for endless years, watching yourself decay bit by bit, yet unable to die!"

"For freedom! For transcendence! I'm willing to pay any price!"

The words have not yet been spoken!

The figure of the exquisite golden immortal suddenly transformed into countless chess pieces, scattering in all directions!

At this moment, the entire Heavenly Court Ruins underwent a dramatic transformation!
The earth transformed into crisscrossing lines, and the void into distinct black and white grids!
Su Chen discovered that he was standing on a huge, boundless Go board!
"Hahaha!"

"Su Chen!"

"You shouldn't have given me time to stall! The tide has turned now. Don't underestimate any ancient Golden Immortal who has managed to survive until now."

"Now!"

"Welcome to my 'Exquisite Chess Game'!"

The voice of the exquisite golden immortal came from all directions, filled with confidence that she could control everything.

"Within this chessboard, I am the only player!"

"And you, Su Chen, are nothing more than... a pawn in my game!"

Om-!
As he finished speaking, a black chess piece, formed from the pure laws of "killing" and "death," quietly fell onto the chessboard!

The piece was placed a hundred feet in front of Su Chen!
In an instant, Su Chen felt the surrounding void suddenly shrink inward! A terrifying crushing force, powerful enough to grind even a Golden Immortal into dust, pressed down on him from all directions!

……

……

Faced with this sudden and terrifying attack that contained a sure-kill chance, Su Chen's expression remained calm and composed.

"piece?"

He looked up at the fake sky made up of black and white lines, a cold smile curving his lips.

“Linglong Golden Immortal, you seem to have misunderstood something.” “I, Su Chen, will never be anyone’s pawn.”

"I will only ever be... the one who wields the chess piece!"

The words have not yet been spoken!

Suddenly, a dazzling nine-colored radiance erupted from Su Chen's body!

"Taiyi Domain, open!"

boom--!
Centered on his body, an independent realm filled with "creation" and "order" suddenly unfolded!

That terrifying power of law, capable of annihilating a Golden Immortal, melted instantly upon contact with the Taiyi Domain, as if encountering its nemesis, ice and snow!

"what?!"

For the first time, Linglong Jinxian's omnipresent voice carried a hint of genuine surprise!

His "Exquisite Chess Game" is a manifestation of his Golden Immortal Dao, capable of invoking the laws of heaven and earth and laying down karmic calamities! Even a powerful expert at the late stage of Golden Immortal would be manipulated by him once he falls into it!
And Su Chen actually managed to carve out his own "domain" within his own chessboard?!

This is simply unheard of!

"Your game is built upon the laws of this broken universe," Su Chen's voice was calm and clear. "But my 'Dao' has long since formed its own realm."

"Your 'karmic calamity' is nothing but... a child's play to me."

Su Chen slowly raised his hand, and a "white chess piece" that was also formed from laws, but exuded endless vitality and hope, slowly took shape in his palm.

"You make a move, and I will respond with a move."

"I'd like to see whether your rotten 'dead piece' is more powerful, or my 'living piece' full of infinite possibilities is superior!"

Su Chen flicked his finger!
The white "Child of Creation" instantly tore through the void, arriving first despite being behind, and landed precisely next to the black "Child of Slaughter"!

Om-!
The instant the two pieces touch!

There was no earth-shattering explosion!
The black stone, representing "killing" and "death," seemed to be infused with endless vitality, and the black runes wrapped around it disintegrated and were purified one by one!
Finally, with a "crack," it shattered completely! It transformed into the purest primordial energy and dissipated onto the chessboard!

"puff!"

Linglong Jinxian let out a muffled groan; his true form, hidden behind the chessboard, had clearly suffered a backlash!
"Impossible! How could you break my 'Heavenly Origin Killing Tribulation' so easily?!" His voice, filled with disbelief, rang out again.

“It’s very simple.” Su Chen stood with his hands behind his back, his clothes fluttering, like a true master of chess. “Because I have already seen through your chess moves.”

"Your 'exquisite chess game' may seem to be able to manipulate cause and effect and predict the future. But in essence, it is nothing more than superluminal deduction and calculation based on the existing 'information' and 'laws' of this universe."

Su Chen's eyes gleamed with an all-knowing wisdom.

"All you can deduce is the past that is 'already set in stone' and the future that is 'very likely' to happen."

"But you can't calculate the 'variables'."

"but me--"

Su-Chen's lips curled into a domineering smile.

"It is the biggest 'variable' in this universe!"

His existence, his soul from another universe, his unique Taiyi Dao...

Everything has long since transcended the "information database" of this universe, exceeding the scope of what the exquisite golden immortal could calculate!

"I do not believe!"

The exquisite golden immortal let out a frantic roar!

He couldn't accept that his path to enlightenment had been so easily seen through by a junior!
"Dragon Strangulation!"

"Heaven and earth are united!"

"The Calamity of Suppressing Gods!"

In an instant, the situation on the chessboard changed dramatically!
Hundreds and thousands of black chess pieces rained down on Su Chen from all directions like a storm!

Each chess piece represents a long-lost ancient art of warfare!
These deadly moves, combined with each other and interdependent, form a deadly net that would leave even the most powerful immortals in despair!

However, Su Chen simply shook his head slightly in the face of this earth-shattering chess situation.

He slowly closed his eyes.

He no longer looked at the chessboard, no longer responded to moves.

He simply immersed his mind completely into his Taiyi Domain.

"Since your game is based on the 'rules' of this world."

"Then, I will..."

Su Chen suddenly opened his eyes, and an unprecedented, unquestionable supreme divine light burst forth from his pale golden eyes!
"I've completely overturned your chessboard!"

"Taiyi Tianji - Words become law!"

I say, in this world, there is no chessboard!

boom--!!!!!!!!!!!!

An ancient, majestic Dao sound, seemingly originating from the beginning of the universe and representing the most primordial "order," slowly emanated from Su Chen's mouth!

In an instant!
The entire "Exquisite Chess Game," that false world constructed from black and white lines, was as if it had been brutally torn apart by an invisible hand!

At this moment, every line, every grid, crumbled inch by inch!

Those hundreds and thousands of black chess pieces, each containing a deadly threat, didn't even manage to touch Su Chen's clothes before turning into nothingness along with the collapse of the entire chessboard!

"No--!!!!!"

"My way! My game!"

The screams of the exquisite golden immortal, filled with terror and despair, echoed through the sky!

His proud Golden Immortal Path was actually defeated by Su Chen in a way that was even more domineering and unreasonable than he could comprehend...

It was forcibly erased!
puff!
The true form of the exquisite golden immortal fell out of the collapsing void in a sorry state. He suddenly spat out a mouthful of golden immortal blood, and his aura instantly weakened to the extreme!
With his path broken, he had already suffered a fatal blow!

At that very moment, a violent tremor suddenly came from deep within the tomb!

A foul aura, more terrifying and evil than ever before, erupted like an ancient demon god awakening!
The "Heavenly Shuttle" that had penetrated deep inside had clearly succeeded!
And at this time.

Even Su Chen, a powerful Taiyi Heavenly Immortal, couldn't help but narrow his eyes, feeling a sense of unease. (End of Chapter)