Desolate Devouring Art - Chapter 1419 - Undying Chessboard
Chapter 1419 – Undying Chessboard
Liu Wuxie had kept his calm through nine trials, whether he stood before the Jianmu Star’s planet lord or the elders of the Divine Alchemy Sect. Yet when three new figures blocked his path, a rare shadow crossed his face, and his face turned grim.
“What’s the Lingqiong Clan doing here?” Chi Heng asked, staring in shock. The last three trials had been decided by drawing lots, and the final trial should have fallen to the Profound Azure Gate. How had that lot ended up in the Lingqiong Clan’s hands instead?
The nearby elders of the Heavenly Dragon Sect all turned toward their sect master, waiting to see how he would respond, while the surrounding guests exchanged strange looks. Everyone in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain knew about the rift between the Heavenly Dragon Sect and the Lingqiong Clan.
Lingqiong Zhi remained seated where he was without moving, and the three people standing in Liu Wuxie’s way were also members of the Lingqiong Clan.
The one in the lead was Ling Qiong—a man Liu Wuxie knew all too well. Back in the True Martial Star, they had crossed paths many times, and Liu Wuxie had even shattered his physical body.
Afterward, a wisp of Ling Qiong’s remnant soul fled back to the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain. Then, he seized Lingqiong Yu’s body and had been moving through the world under that name. Two young men stood behind Lingqiong Yu, both watching Liu Wuxie with mocking amusement in their eyes.
“Liu Wuxie, it’s been a long time,” Lingqiong Yu said, smiling at him with a thin layer of sarcasm lacing his voice.
“What guidance do the three of you have for me?” Liu Wuxie asked, keeping a polite smile on his lips. He understood clearly that the Lingqiong Clan would not show up with good intentions. I
f they only wanted to pose a simple question, he had no reason to fear it; few things in this world could truly stump him.
“Some days ago, we captured a youth by the name of Gu Yu. He ran to our clan’s territory and caused trouble. Why don’t you guess what happened after that?” Lingqiong Yu asked, deliberately drawing out his words.
Liu Wuxie’s heart sank the instant he heard those words. Gu Yu ought to have been in the Heavenly Dao Society. How had he ended up on the Lingqiong Clan’s territory? Worse still, even Liu Wuxie himself had never learned where exactly that territory lay.
Gu Yu was a descendant of the dragon clan, and by bloodline, he was also a descendant of Long Xiao. He had turned down the chance to join the Heavenly Dragon Sect and chose to follow Liu Wuxie instead.
If he had entered the Heavenly Dragon Sect, he would have enjoyed abundant resources, but those benefits would cost him his freedom.
Raised by a grandfather who always warned him away from constraints, Gu Yu had grown used to a life without shackles. He had never joined a sect and had no wish to be bound by one.
“What have you all done to Gu Yu?!” Liu Wuxie asked, his face darkening. He had been on the verge of reaching the summit, but those words snuffed out his earlier composure in an instant.
From Lingqiong Yu’s tone alone, he could already tell that Gu Yu had fallen into their hands.
Liu Wuxie understood Gu Yu’s temperament better than anyone. Gu Yu would never leave without a cause, which meant something had happened that Liu Wuxie still did not know about. If even Elder Jian had been unable to stop it, the matter was anything but simple.
“Bring him up!” Lingqiong Yu said.
The two youths lifted their hands, signaling several members of the Lingqiong Clan to escort a battered young man forward. His entire body bore the marks of brutal torture, wounds crisscrossing his flesh until the sight itself was hard to stomach.
His head hung low, his consciousness flickering, and his matted hair covered most of his face. Even so, Liu Wuxie recognized him at a single glance.
Sun Xiao rushed over from a distance. He did not know anyone from the Heavenly Dao Society, but the anger burning in his junior brother’s eyes told him that he needed to know.
If not for the ongoing apprenticeship ceremony, Liu Wuxie would likely have already charged forward.
“Let him go,” Liu Wuxie said, and the surrounding temperature plummeted with his words. Everyone nearby could sense the murderous intent rising within him, a killing will that could sweep across the entire Heavenly Dragon Sect if it erupted.
“That’s easy, as long as you can make it through this trial and answer our question,” Lingqiong Yu said, still smiling as if nothing were amiss. Seeing Liu Wuxie teetering on the edge of losing control only pleased him even further.
After all, Liu Wuxie had dragged the Lingqiong Clan’s reputation through the mud, and they had come precisely to reclaim that debt.
The entire Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain now knew of their past ugliness, and people treated them like rats scurrying through the streets. All of that stemmed from Liu Wuxie, and they believed they could only vent their hatred by killing him.
“Very well. Go ahead and ask your question,” Liu Wuxie replied, drawing in a deep breath to steady the fury in his chest.
Saving Gu Yu took priority over everything else; his personal feud with the Lingqiong Clan could wait. Even if they sat among the upper echelons of the Heavenly Dragon Sect, he would not hesitate to kill them when the time came.
Everyone watched in tense silence, eager to see what kind of problem the Lingqiong Clan would present.
Liu Wuxie had answered the previous nine questions flawlessly, especially his response to the Jianmu Star’s planet lord and his counter to the Divine Alchemy Sect when he used the same ingredients to refine a seventh-grade spiritual pill.
“Bring it out!” Lingqiong Yu said, waving his hand as the youth to his right produced a massive chessboard over three meters in diameter.
Such a large board was a rarity, and several pieces were already placed upon it, forming an unfinished game. The instant it appeared, a collective hiss rippled through the crowd, everyone stunned by what they saw.
“It’s the Undying Chessboard left behind by the Undying Elder,” someone exclaimed. “It’s rumored that the Undying Elder had sealed a strand of his sword aura in this chessboard. Back then, people revered the Undying Elder because he comprehended the Undying Sword Art, but that sword art had vanished long ago.”
Even cultivators at the Heaven Gaze Realm looked over with barely concealed longing. From their reactions alone, one could tell that the sword aura sealed within was anything but ordinary, and the word “undying” itself hinted at immortality.
The Undying Elder was a figure who had approached the level of a true immortal, and rumors said he had already ascended to the celestial realm. Whether that legend was true, no one could say for sure.
When one ascended to the Celestial Realm, they could not bring worldly possessions with them, so the Undying Chessboard had stayed behind in the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain.
Its appearance had once triggered a struggle that cost countless lives.
Whoever could solve the puzzle would inherit the Undying Elder’s legacy. The strand of sword aura contained the Undying Dao itself, and anyone who comprehended it would gain undying life.
The revelation that the Lingqiong Clan had obtained the Undying Chessboard left many onlookers shocked.
Liu Wuxie, however, cared little for the sword aura. His mind focused entirely on Gu Yu’s safety. He had already attained unity with heaven and earth, and his body had long since stepped into an indestructible state.
“Don’t tell me that the Lingqiong Clan is going to make Liu Wuxie solve the Undying Chessboard?” someone muttered as understanding dawned. Clearly, the Lingqiong Clan had not brought it out to flaunt it; they had a precise aim.
“Countless people have attempted it throughout the years, but the Undying Chessboard is fundamentally unsolvable. Even Immortals cannot crack it, not to mention Liu Wuxie. The Lingqiong Clan has no intention of letting Liu Wuxie go,” an Earth Immortal said, shaking his head at the Lingqiong Clan’s viciousness.
Anyone could see that the Lingqiong Clan wanted to use Gu Yu as a hostage to force Liu Wuxie into their game. With the Divine Alchemy Sect’s trial, Liu Wuxie could have chosen to give up, but with his friend in their grasp, he no longer had that option.
If he were to abandon this trial, everyone knew Gu Yu would die at the hands of the Lingqiong Clan. If he were to accept the trial, his chances against the Undying Chessboard would be slim to none.
“Lingqiong Yu, release him immediately, or don’t blame me for what happens next,” Sun Xiao said, ready to seize Gu Yu by force.
If an internal conflict erupted within the Heavenly Dragon Sect in front of so many guests, the resulting scandal would spread across the Indigo Bamboo Astral Domain like wildfire.
By then, the Lingqiong Clan wouldn’t be the only clan that would lose face.
“Sun Xiao, would you believe me if I say that I’ll take his life if you take another step forward?” Lingqiong Yu said, summoning a longsword and pressing its edge against Gu Yu’s neck. A slight push would be enough to separate his head from his body.
“Senior Brother, step back. This is between the Lingqiong Clan,” Liu Wuxie said with a wave of his hand, signaling his senior brother to retreat. He did not want anyone else interfering in what would unfold today.
Sun Xiao could only stomp in frustration, furious that his junior brother still insisted on carrying the burden alone at such a time. He had come into contact with the Undying Chessboard before. Although it looked like an ordinary game of chess, once one stepped into it, surviving to come back out was anything but easy.
Many experts had entered the Undying Chessboard over the years, only to lose their lives within it. It had become evident that the Lingqiong Clan intended to use the apprenticeship ceremony as a pretext to get rid of Liu Wuxie.
After all, the Undying Chessboard was said to contain an entire world inside it, where any challenger would have to face the Undying Elder in a contest of wits.
Those who lost would sink into that inner world forever, while the winner would break the game and inherit the Undying Elder’s legacy. Yet throughout all these years, without exception, everyone who entered had failed.
“Lingqiong Clan, if anything happens to my junior brother, I’ll personally snap your head off from your neck,” Sun Xiao said. His junior brother had once saved his life, and he could not bear to watch Liu Wuxie step into a pit of fire.
Lingqiong Yu ignored Sun Xiao’s threat and kept his gaze fixed on Liu Wuxie, his smile never fading.
“Liu Wuxie, are you interested in challenging the game? If you can solve it, I naturally won’t touch your friend. We will also write off the past grudges between us,” Lingqiong Yu replied with a smile, patiently waiting for Liu Wuxie’s answer.
On the summit, the elders of the Heavenly Dragon Sect all turned their eyes toward Hua Feiyu.
“Sect Master…” Chi Heng stepped forward as well.
Hua Feiyu waved his hand lightly, stopping Chi Heng before he could speak. He could force the Lingqiong Clan to back down with a single order, but that would certainly doom Gu Yu. This was a trap laid from the start, and the Lingqiong Clan had never intended to give the Heavenly Dragon Sect a way out.
No one understood Liu Wuxie better than Hua Feiyu.
Once Liu Wuxie had made up his mind, no one could sway him.
The Nine Dragon Palace, the Comet Temple, and the other great forces chose not to step in. This matter belonged to the Heavenly Dragon Sect’s internal affairs, and besides, none of them would turn away the chance to watch such a spectacle unfold.
The investigation had already revealed the truth—the final trial had initially belonged to the Profound Azure Sect, but they had ceded it to the Lingqiong Clan. The relationship between those two parties ran unusually deep.
Everyone from the Lingqiong Clan focused their gazes on Liu Wuxie, waiting for his decision.
“I hope that you keep your word. Set the board,” Liu Wuxie said, his eyes flickering with a depth that felt like bottomless pools.
No one had expected Liu Wuxie to accept the challenge so directly; most had assumed he would refuse.
“No!” Sun Xiao tried to stop him, but he was already a step too late.
