With half a game of chess, I vanquish all demons!

Zhao Yao boarded the Fengping and his gaze swept across the faces of the people there.

The tall, thin man was forcing a smile as he accepted the congratulations, the curve of his lips somewhat stiff. Among the others, some kept their heads down and remained silent, some smiled ingratiatingly, and one person secretly glanced in his direction before quickly averting their gaze, as if burned.

That's fine, that's fine too.

Even if you can't kill the target, it's still good to gain some merit in vanquishing demons.

Surrounded by compliments, the tall, thin man and his group secretly thought to themselves, and their smiles gradually became more natural. Some even began to loudly boast about their "heroic performance" in the gray fog maze.

Zhao Yao memorized these faces without saying a word.

He tested the number of monsters he had killed with the first mate of the Windward, and after confirming his merit, he turned and walked into the cabin.

"Oh dear, no, no, I made a mistake. Although quite a few monsters were trapped in the Gray Mist Labyrinth, the credit doesn't really go to you... it should go to that little brother who just left."

The captain of the Fengping slapped his forehead and shook his head repeatedly with a look of shame. His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Blame me, blame me..."

There was a moment of silence on the deck.

The question is, if the little guy who just left wasn't with the hyenas, why did he fall out of the gray fog maze at the same time?

As everyone pondered this thought, their gazes invariably turned to the tall, thin man and his group in the middle, their eyes filled with scrutiny and contemplation.

Those gazes were scorching and made people uneasy. The smiles on the faces of the tall, thin man and the others froze. Someone opened their mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out.

On the deck, those who were to be commended received commendations, and those who wanted to watch the excitement watched the excitement; everything proceeded in an orderly manner and ended quickly.

The Windward set sail again, heading back to the open sea.

After nightfall, Zhao Yao left his room and went up to the upper deck.

He looked out to sea; the moonlight, like water, shattered into silvery scales on the surface, and the sea breeze, carrying a salty, fishy scent, brushed against his cheeks.

He closed his eyes, channeled his demonic power, and opened his mouth towards the sky.

Swallow the Moon: Absorb light and transform it into energy.

"suck--"

Zhao Yao faced the moonlight and began to inhale deeply, one sip at a time.

The moonlight, like a ribbon, fell into my abdomen, transforming into wisps of energy that flowed into my limbs and bones.

On the deck, people occasionally passed by him. They glanced at him with surprise, then paid him no further attention. It was nothing special; he was simply absorbing moonlight to aid his cultivation.

Time passed slowly, and moonlight flowed steadily into his stomach. Zhao Yao remained silent for a while, then quickly closed his mouth and stopped.

He felt the changes within his body, a hint of helplessness on his face.

After consuming it for half an hour, the energy accumulated was still less than that of swallowing the most ordinary pill.

Ultimately, it's because the bloodline of the Moon Devouring Tengu is too weak.

That's not bad, though. Just open your mouth to God, and you can get several pills in one night. There's never been such a good thing before.

Zhao Yao habitually comforted himself and did not stay on the deck for long. He turned around and walked towards the cabin.

He moved his stiff legs along the way and quickly made his way back to his room.

Click~

He closed the door, took out a wooden basin containing the ascension water from his jade ring, handed the ring to Zhao Yi, put Zhao Yi back into the broken jade chess set, and then came to the wooden basin.

He tiptoed, jumped lightly, and sank into the Ascending Water, quickly arriving at the lower realm of the desolate rocks.

The lower realm of barren rocks.

The sky was overcast, and there were dozens of large craters on the rocky ground.

In each pit lay a monstrous creature, its flesh and bones mangled beyond recognition.

Zhao Yao appeared outside a large pit.

He flung out his jade armor, scattering it into jade radiance, which then reformed into dozens of claws. Controlling these claws, he lunged down, snatching the demon cores from the bellies of these demonized monsters.

—Not all monsters have a demon core inside them, so most of these jade claws missed their target.

Next, he drew upon the divine power of the Shanyang tribe to begin stripping the demonic power from the mutated monster's body.

On the rocky ground, from dozens of large pits, dark magic wisps rose upwards and actively converged together.

He reached out and let the magic flow over, catching it in his palm.

He stared at the ball of magic, his brows furrowing involuntarily.

Too little.

That's far too little.

Dozens of demonic monsters managed to gather just over one small demonic being's worth of magic power. Compared to the two demons, Pei Niannian and Song Angran, on the desolate rock mountain back then, it was pitifully little.

Is this a man-made demon? Even its magic power is lacking.

Zhao Yao became increasingly certain of the judgments made by those people during the day.

The thought flashed through his mind. Holding this ball of magic power, he closed his eyes and entered a state of inner vision.

At the front line of the Broken Jade Chessboard, all five jade chess figures have been unsealed. The fifth jade chess figure has already filled eight layers of flame.

To collect this magic, you must store it in the fifth jade chess piece.

Perhaps it was due to obsessive-compulsive disorder that Zhao Yao felt it was better to be more organized.

His gaze shifted to the second jade chess piece.

The second jade chess piece contained eight talismans for divine magic, one talisman for demonic magic, and a small, indistinct figure of magic that had already consumed some of its magic power, completely filling the ten-flame layer.

With a thought, one of the talismans of divine sense magic slowly moved, jumped out of the jade chess piece, and came into his body. It took root firmly in his physical body, connected with his soul, and functioned normally.

With another thought, he pushed the empty flame layer in the second jade chess piece, creating a vortex suction force. The magic power in his hand was drawn in and quickly filled, outlining a dark magic figure with a strange smile.

He then poured the remaining magic into the existing magic figure, replenishing what he had previously consumed and making the figure's face clear again.

He examined the jade chess set and nodded in satisfaction.

Now only the fifth jade chess piece remains.

Two more flame layers will fill it up.

Zhao Yao opened his eyes, took out the pills from the jade ring, broke the wax seal, and began to swallow them continuously.

"Gurgle~"

Several days had passed since he last took it, and coupled with the demigod's unique physique, the drug resistance in his body had diminished considerably, and the increase in vital energy brought about by the pill had returned to normal.

Before long, after swallowing the pills, the fifth jade chess piece was quickly filled to perfection.

As all ten layers of flame outlined the primordial energy figures, the fifth chess piece trembled and underwent a wondrous change.

Zhao Yao knew that he could mold another jade soldier.

He looked at the five jade chess pieces from his inner perspective and saw that they emitted a soft white light, each in its own position, neat and orderly. He couldn't help but turn his gaze to the two cannons in the middle of the chessboard and the other chess pieces.

For some reason, despite having abundant vital energy, no new chess pieces were unlocked on the shattered jade chessboard.

Zhao Yao frowned, probed with his senses, and quickly understood.

Five jade soldiers represent the maximum number of times he, as an ordinary person, can unlock the seal.

To unlock a new chess piece, one must reach a certain level of cultivation, at least the first level.

Speaking of which, despite his current impressive appearance, he has all sorts of powerful figures, demon blood, magical arts, and rare artifacts.

But in essence, he is just an ordinary person who is 2.5 meters tall.

He pondered that even if he replaced all the magical talismans and magic power in the second piece with primordial energy from the five jade chess pieces, he could only push himself to the level of a bronze warrior at most.

Going further up, new pieces need to be unsealed to accommodate more primordial energy.

But now it has encountered restrictions.

Breaking through a realm...

There are insurmountable barriers and taboos; breaking through them through the path of the strongman is not an option, as it would hinder his martial arts training.

Between demon blood and martial artists, there's too much unknown information about the former, so the only option is to truly embark on the path of martial arts.

He took out the jade tablet of Fubo Gong from his bosom and looked at its contents again.

Since obtaining the jade pendant, he has examined it repeatedly, but has not yet officially begun using it.

Because he had tested it with his divine power, he found that although it was a mid-level martial art, there was still more to it than met the eye...