Demon, come and cultivate for me.

The downward passage was extremely long, and Zhou Chu followed the female wolf for quite some time before finally reaching the end.

As you exit the passageway, a square altar comes into view.

At each of the four corners of the altar stands a statue of a mythical beast with a lion's head and deer antlers, which looks somewhat similar to the Qilin from the previous life, except that it does not have the Qilin's scales.

The walls are covered with brightly colored murals that look as if they were just painted.

Zhou Chu stopped to examine the murals and quickly determined their order.

The murals on each wall contain a wealth of information, and unrelated content is naturally separated by auspicious cloud patterns.

The mural begins with a house with blue bricks and green tiles. An old man stands at the door, holding a baby in his hands. The baby is radiating golden light.

Above the house, many auspicious birds such as cranes, phoenixes, and roc hover in the sky.

Immediately following, separated by auspicious clouds, is another image: a five- or six-year-old child sits cross-legged on a mountaintop, radiating golden light. In front of him is a chessboard, with half of the pieces in black and half in white.

It was obvious that this child was the grown-up baby in the old man's arms.

After looking at the murals on the three walls, Zhou Chu had a general understanding of the situation.

The mural depicts the life of a saint.

When a sage is born, auspicious omens appear in the heavens. Then he begins to cultivate himself from a young age, and travels the world after growing up.

One day, many people who rode rare birds and beasts found the sage and respectfully bowed to him.

The sage followed these people to a magnificent palace, and those standing below the palace appeared extremely small.

A person wearing a crown greets the saint at the palace gate.

Next came a great battle between the giant, ferocious demons and the human race. The battlefield was littered with human corpses, with very few demon corpses.

The sage, holding a command flag and riding a mythical beast, led his army into battle.

On the battlefield, the sage set up a formation, trapping the demons within a chessboard-like array. Human soldiers charged into the formation and slaughtered the demons, ultimately achieving a great victory.

After the emperor returned to the capital and received his reward, he went back to the mountains and countryside.

Zhou Chu couldn't help but think to himself, "This person is so indifferent to fame and fortune, he is truly a saint."

After the sage returned to the mountains, he took in many disciples and preached to them every day.

Finally, the sage ascended to heaven on a crane, with his disciples and many high-ranking officials seeing him off below.

"Your Majesty, the formation diagram is inside." The female wolf called out several times, but Zhou Chu didn't listen.

He only came to his senses when the female wolf dragged him into the tomb.

The tomb chamber was extremely large, and apart from the coffin, there was nothing else inside.

The formation diagrams were carved on the left and right sides of the tomb walls.

Zhou Chu originally thought that the formation diagram was similar to the Hetu and Luoshu diagrams from his previous life, combined with the symbols of Qian, Kun, Zhen, Gen, Dui, Xun, and the five elements (metal, wood, water, fire, earth).

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that that wasn't the case at all.

The array diagrams carved on the tomb walls are actually a series of nine-by-nine Go board patterns.

One wall is engraved with eighteen chessboards, and the two tomb walls together have a total of thirty-six chessboards.

There are no words on the chessboard, only black and white chess pieces inlaid on it.

Zhou Chu had studied Go for a while in his previous life. Although he was a terrible player, he at least knew the rules.

However, he couldn't understand the meaning of the arrangement of the pieces on the chessboard.

On the first chessboard, there are nine pieces in total: four black pieces and five white pieces. The black and white pieces each occupy four star positions, and there is one extra white piece occupying the center position.

The second board has eleven more pieces, for a total of twenty. White pieces are on top, black pieces are on the bottom, symmetrically occupying the top and bottom corners, with no piece at the center position (Tengen).

The third chessboard has thirty pieces, the fourth has fifty, and so on, until the thirty-sixth chessboard has three hundred and sixty pieces.

From the third board onwards, the distribution of black and white pieces becomes completely unpredictable. The only consistent feature is that the center position (Tengen) remains empty.

Zhou Chu looked at it for a long time, but couldn't figure it out at all.

Is this some kind of formation? It's even more obscure and difficult to understand than a celestial book.

How can one comprehend battle formations using only a game of Go?

The female wolf seemed to notice Zhou Chu's confusion, so she pointed to the first chessboard and explained:

"The first formation is called the Nine Palaces Formation. After comprehending its mysteries, one can use true energy to transform into nine chess pieces and arrange them in the formation."

The Nine Palaces Formation is completely isolated from the outside world; no one can enter from the outside, and no one can leave from the inside. The higher the cultivation level, the larger the formation's area.

After saying that, the female wolf pointed to the second chessboard and said:

"The second formation is called the Star Shift Formation. This formation can instantly send the beings within it to other places. Similarly, the higher the cultivation level and the stronger the spiritual power, the farther the teleportation distance."

The third formation is the Illusion Formation. Those who enter the formation lose their senses and see only illusions.

The timid will see what they fear upon entering the formation; the lustful will see beautiful women; the greedy will see gold, jewels, and jade—and so on.

What they have in common is that once they enter the formation, they will inevitably become immersed in it until their lifespan is exhausted and their physical body withers and dies.

As for the fourth formation, I still haven't figured it out.

Zhou Chu felt a chill run down his spine. The first two formations were alright, but the third one was the most terrifying.

He couldn't help but feel relieved that the female wolf hadn't recognized his identity.

Otherwise, if you fail to kill it and instead get trapped in its illusionary array, then all your efforts will be wasted.

"Your Majesty, after patiently studying and learning the first formation, you will be able to deal with the human warriors and fox spirits." The female wolf finished speaking and was about to walk out.

Zhou Chu grabbed the female wolf from behind and asked, "Where are you going, Madam?"

"I'll go up first to prepare blood and meat soup for my son to nourish his body," the female wolf replied.

You beast, you're going to kill again! Once I learn the formation, I'll kill you first to avenge those innocent people.

Zhou Chu cursed inwardly, but said aloud:

"Why the rush? Accompany me to comprehend the formation."

"Your Majesty, this is the tomb of a saint..." The female wolf deliberately twisted her body and rubbed against Zhou Chu.

The silver wolf body that Zhou Chu had transformed into inexplicably began to experience some discomfort.

Damn it! You beast!

Zhou Chu cursed under his breath and pushed the female wolf toward the coffin.

The female wolf offered no resistance, obediently lying on the coffin with her upper body, her tail wagging back and forth.

hiss~

Zhou Chu took a deep breath of the cold air from the tomb to calm himself down.

He quickly memorized the contents of the thirty-six chessboards, then transferred them into the "Tai Xu Wu Xiang Tu" in his sea of ​​consciousness, and gave it to the demon soul of the initial-stage wolf demon to comprehend. Afterward, he closed the box.

A moment later, upon re-entering the "Tai Xu Wu Xiang Diagram," the progress of the formation cultivation had already appeared.

【Thirty-Six Star Formations (Tier 1)】

【Formation 1: Nine Palaces Formation】

[Having cultivated for ninety-eight years]

Is it that difficult? It takes ninety-eight years to comprehend the first formation.

Looking at the initial stage wolf demon's soul lifespan, it only has one year left, which is too much of a drain on its lifespan.

However, Zhou Chu didn't feel bad at all; he wasn't risking his own life by spending his life on gambling.

He has five more initial-stage demon souls like this, with a lifespan of over a hundred years.

With the addition of several second-realm demon souls, he still has at least 1,700 years of lifespan remaining.

Zhou Chu continued to immerse himself in comprehending the demon soul of the initial-stage wolf demon.

One, two, three.

After more than three hundred years of trying to understand, Zhou Chu had gained nothing and began to feel a pang of regret.

No matter how rich you are, you can't be this wasteful!

Having consumed over three hundred years of his lifespan, the Star Chess Thirty-Six Formations remained at the first level, and he still hadn't been able to comprehend the second formation.

No, something must have gone wrong, but Zhou Chu couldn't figure out the key to it for a moment.

His consciousness returned to reality, and only a moment had passed.

"Your Majesty, hurry up..." The female wolf was still lying on the coffin, looking at Zhou Chu with seductive eyes.