Cultivation through Skin Making - Chapter 701 - 248. Great Dao Chessboard, Hard to Defend the Spirit (6.1K words - Please Subscribe)_3
Chapter 701: 248. Great Dao Chessboard, Hard to Defend the Spirit (6.1K words – Please Subscribe)_3
“He Wuya isn’t afraid of pushing too hard, and the Li Family jumping out?”
“The Li Family has nowhere to go, and He Wuya won’t push too hard, because he’s worried that the Long Night Emperor sits and watches, taking advantage of the situation.”
“Do you plan to let Little Ice handle it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Little Ice has just emerged into the world. Though it appears powerful, its mindset is still that of an infant.
As a divine beast of the Innate Profound Yellow Three Realms, it hasn’t even learned to speak or transform into a human form, showing its naivety.
It can’t distinguish good from bad. In a battle, it could use its immense power to ignore schemes and determine the outcome, but in a situation suited for probing like this, Little Ice is not suitable to appear.
The old ones would quickly notice Little Ice’s mindset and might use it, bringing variables to the Li Family’s future.
I don’t know how they would use it, but provoking a child into a frenzy or agony isn’t difficult.
I won’t give them that chance, I’ll snuff out any possible risk ahead of time.
Little Ice will show up only under two circumstances.
First, I win big; it appears once, adding elegance to the victory;
Second, I lose terribly; it appears once, showing the world that my loss is inconsequential.
But regardless of victory or defeat, Little Ice’s appearance can only be fleeting, never lingering.
In the mortal world, gods and buddhas are revered because they remain high above, enshrined in golden bodies, unseen and unknown, each appearance fleeting, only revealing their power and brilliance, which commands respect and awe.
Little Ice, though a relative, is also a deity the Li Family needs to worship.”
As the words fell, the room suddenly calmed down.
Song Yan looked up to see Li Shanhai smiling at him, satisfaction in his expression, while Han Weizi looked at him with some surprise.
In Han Weizi’s understanding, Li Xuanchan appeared scholarly and unrestrained on the surface, but was selfish and ruthless at heart—her “villainess” nature and malicious schemes were learned from Li Xuanchan.
Han Weizi could fully imagine that, if it were the Li Family’s former master, he would have coldly uttered something like, “With the Ice Abyss Phoenix, the Li Family can be dominant here. Besides the Long Night Emperor, who else is a match?” or “Secretly overthrow He Wuya, making the Crane Spirit Sect the Li Family’s domain.”
But now… the master shows an incredible measure of thoughtfulness.
No matter the obstacles, he remains composed despite the arising storms.
Li Shanhai observed this heir with increasing satisfaction, finally speaking: “Though you’re only at the Realm Boundary Early Stage, with your domain just a hundred zhang wide and not yet reaching Ten Mountains, I didn’t intend to speak of matters affecting cultivation, but now… The Li Family only has you to rely on. Hence, some magical battle techniques of the Late Realm, even Realm Spirit Realm, must be discussed with you.”
He gently stroked his beard, saying, “I came today to teach you how to… play a game of strategy.”
With a slight pause, Li Shanhai added, “In this path, I’m merely a child, and you… just an infant.”
…
…
Pa!
A Jade Scroll was tossed out.
Song Yan caught it.
His divine sense swept inside, revealing a crisscross pattern, surrounded by a vast darkness.
“A visualization map?”
Song Yan muttered, trying to see clearly. If a visualization map can’t enable viewing the whole picture, what is its purpose? Through the old master’s talk of “playing strategy,” Song Yan had guessed that this crisscross was a move on a chessboard, and the surrounding darkness the whole board.
He directed his divine sense towards the darkness next to the point.
That darkness was obstinate.
With force, he pressed his divine sense forward, the darkness gradually clarifying, revealing a nineteen-way chessboard.
The next moment, he found himself deeply ingrained in the board, his divine thought, divine soul, and body sinking deeper.
Suddenly, his body jerked, like waking from a nightmare, drenched in sweat as he broke free.
No, not broke free; rather, the board rejected him out.
“Did you see it?” Li Shanhai asked.
Song Yan nodded, “A chessboard.”
Then he asked, “Old master, how is this game played, and what is its significance?”
Li Shanhai said, “This chessboard has been around for a long time, particularly prominent in the sixth-level Cultivation Profound Land. In my day, I trained at the sixth level, thus encountering this board and brought back a visualization map. Not just me, leaders of major forces at the fifth level surely have this too.
This board is called the Great Dao Chessboard, evident in appearance, elusive in essence.
Different realms can set down different board sizes; the Realm of Domains can only lay a secret realm or a city-sized mortal terrain; I and the Long Night Emperor can lay out a continent; presumably, those at higher levels can truly use a whole world, even a domain, a Star Domain as a board.
Those first entering Profound Yellow merely harness the rules of the world, the Fires of Taiyin and Taiyang, the essence of Six Paths of Reincarnation, crafting a realm beyond their full control.
Such a realm lacks the qualification to see the Great Dao Chessboard.
Meanwhile, the Realm Realm can barely place a piece.”
He tilted his head slightly upward, “Using a Mortal City as a board, set the rules, place a piece, that piece may operate for ten years, a hundred, a thousand, even ten thousand years, until victory or defeat is evident.
The Realm Realm can’t see the process; however, they can feel the impact of victory or defeat, as moves placed can lead to immediate results, strengthening or wounding one’s Dao heart, with cultivation progressing regardless, but specifics are beyond words, only understood within the game.”
