Cultivation through Skin Making - Chapter 707 - 250. The Patriarch Heads West, Ghost Cultivator Behind the Scenes (5.0K Words - Seeking Subscription)

Chapter 707: 250. The Patriarch Heads West, Ghost Cultivator Behind the Scenes (5.0K Words – Seeking Subscription)

The Lower Realm of the Li Family, consisting of thirty-one worlds in total, even those from the Upper Realm, with life spans akin to heaven and earth, might perish due to various severe injuries.

Humans perish, but the world remains. However… if the entire Li Family were to perish and the Lower Realm were to be occupied by other forces, these worlds would likely turn into slave lands, or even be entirely refined.

As for the old man’s severe injury…

Song Yan recalled that fragment of memory from Li Xuanchan, the memory of him and the old man going together to the sixth level Cultivation Profound Land. In the memory, the old man’s injuries were sustained within the mist.

The old man confronted the attack head-on, while he was merely grazed slightly.

Was it an ambush? A remnant wave? Or something else?

He did not know.

He only remembered that the mist that day and the snow today felt equally cold.

Li Shanhai hunched over, sitting opposite Song Yan, white snow covering his sparse hair. He sat at the head of the bridge leading to the Lower Realm of the Li Family. At first, he intended to scatter his ashes toward the Lower Realm of the Li Family to promote its prosperity, but now he has changed his mind.

It’s not that the old man wanted a grand funeral in the worldly fashion, but he felt that even as remains and ashes, there was inauspiciousness. It’s better to be thrown outside, buried in the wild, to avoid unknown calamities.

The old man’s head shook as if suddenly awakening from a dream, he opened his murky old eyes and strained to lift them to look at the young man across from him, saying, “Let’s begin.”

Song Yan looked at the old man, the influence of the “Wa Text Curse” stirred an indescribable grief in his heart, which reflected in his eyes.

The old man sensed this grief, smiled kindly, and again said, “Let’s begin.”

The two closed their eyes and visualized the Great Dao Chessboard.

Instantly, a chessboard of nineteen lines appeared in the void.

The sides of the two were all dark, yet in front of them, it gradually brightened.

The chessboard hovered over a Mortal World town, slowly descending into the town, merging with the town, as if declaring that the town had become the chessboard of the two.

Song Yan glanced at Mortal City, the city was particularly new, with the city name at all four gates — Purple Sun.

The weather was clearing, light snow hadn’t been swept away, vendors from the outskirts rushed in with either carts or carrying goods, others, Escort Masters, were at the gates exchanging Passage Documents.

Within the city, Jianghu factions were numerous and varied, with the Chai Gang, Wine Gang which “established a sect upon completing a mission”; the Huoxin Martial Arts Hall, Vajra Martial Arts Hall, where “martial artists charged fees for teaching”; the Celestial Sword Sect’s Purple Sun City branch, a “subsidiary of a major sect”; the Black-clothed Guards, “subordinate to the Government,” and so on…

Song Yanqi asked, “Is this Purple Sun City in the Western Nether Realm?”

Li Shanhai said, “I don’t know.”

Song Yan asked, “Then why did the Great Dao Chessboard choose such a city?”

Li Shanhai said, “Every time is different, no need to entangle too much.”

After saying that, he raised his hand to the void, pinching up a white piece, and said, “If this piece lands on a person, it is a soul-split entering the human soul. If this piece lands on the ground, it manifests a sacred presence, in various forms, the ultimate goal being to win.”

Song Yan asked, “How to win?”

Li Shanhai said, “Capturing the opponent’s pieces counts as winning. Each piece I place influences a person, if you follow closely and place next to me, then this person is either by my side or has close cause and effect.

However, in the Profound Yellow Second Realm, one can only place one piece, so it doesn’t matter with these.

These are just the simplest rules, as few can play against the old man, on this three hundred and sixty-one grid chessboard, at most just two moves.

Come, you and I will place our pieces, a game will pass in an instant, without taking long.

Here it’s said, ’One day in heaven, a thousand years on earth’…

The winner can advance in cultivation and nature, the loser depending on the situation, may regress in cultivation and nature, or perhaps achieve similar improvement.”

After saying that, Li Shanhai seemed unable to support further, raising the white piece, fixing his gaze on Song Yan, saying, “Expend all your strength, defeat the old man, let the old man leave with a smile!!”

After saying that, the white piece fell!

The chessboard slightly manifested over Purple Sun City, but it was shrouded in mist.

Song Yan couldn’t see where the white piece fell, even felt the piece hadn’t fallen, he was puzzled, yet still pinched a black piece, seemingly solemnly yet casually placing it at a local martial arts hall.

At this moment, the black and white pieces both glowed, not far apart.

A strange emotion suddenly arose within Song Yan.

For this was not the “you move I move” match he imagined, but two pieces falling simultaneously, the first move was blind, from the second move it becomes “calculating one’s own first piece, the other’s first piece, while also predicting the other’s second piece,” thus falling pieces again simultaneously, with the situation deepening, the chessboard expanding, it becomes extremely complex, coupled with the time flow of “one day in heaven, a thousand years on earth,” making it even more complex.

While thinking about it, the chessboard below was rapidly changing.

He saw Li Shanhai’s piece was actually an old man nearing death, the old man bedridden, soon passing away, unexpectedly: Li Shanhai’s piece did not disappear, but transferred to a descendant of the old man.

Song Yan immediately understood: this chessboard is not dead, but alive, it moves on its own.

Now the role he played was that of a… “grandfather.”

He looked at the naïve youth where he placed his piece.

His power seemed to only possess such an ordinary youth here.

The youth was practicing martial arts, seemingly wanting to enter a certain martial arts hall.

He watched for a while, and said, “Fool, is that how one practices martial arts?”