Silence swallowed the heavens and earth.
A colossal chessboard had appeared out of nowhere, its intersecting lines stretching like a vast net across the starry void.
Black and white pieces sat upon it, embodying the dance of yin and yang.
Wuuuu…
A mournful wind moaned through the emptiness, raising goosebumps on every soul.
On the withered continent, Qi Liujia—his flesh desiccated and cracked like ancient bark—lifted his head. A brilliant light shone in his eyes as he gazed at the interlaced chessboard suspended among the stars, as though a game were being played.
“So he finally makes his move.”
A faint tremor ran through Qi Liujia’s withered skin, dust drifting from the cracks.
He seemed to smile, anticipation written across his face.
“Before attempting the leap to high-martial, the trash does need to be cleared away.”
He murmured, then settled back on the barren land, quietly watching what would unfold.
In truth, he was deeply curious how the white-robed youth would handle this. Present were holy sons and maidens from numerous high-martial sacred lands, along with their Out-of-Body protectors.
What would the youth do?
Kill them all? That would enrage the high-martial holy lands.
Once the Five Phoenixes ascended, they would face an unimaginable calamity.
Qi Liujia chuckled. No matter the choice, the real show was about to begin.
In the void, terrifying explosions thundered.
Every Out-of-Body expert unleashed their full might, blazing like suns that lit the endless darkness.
Zhulong had reverted to her Candle Dragon form—human head, serpentine body. Her yin-yang eyes spun; the massive black-and-white millstone ground the void itself, erupting with dreadful power.
Surrounded by so many enemies, she struggled, yet still held her ground.
The Azure Dragon bled rivers; the little dragon fought like a mad beast.
But the moment the colossal chessboard appeared across the void…
Joy flashed across the little dragon’s face.
Even the Azure Dragon, locked in bitter combat, jolted with excitement.
ROAR!
A deafening dragon roar shook the heavens. Steam seemed to burst from every scale as they flared upward.
It was as if he bellowed, “Come on! Fight me!”
BOOM!
He charged fearlessly at his opponent.
The Out-of-Body expert, aura blazing like a sun, sneered and threw a punch.
Yet he quickly froze.
Because before his fist even fully extended, the Azure Dragon was already hurtling backward—scales exploding, blood painting the sky, looking as though he had suffered endless torment.
A wretched, heart-rending wail echoed.
On the other side, the mountain-sized little dragon—fierce and menacing—saw the Azure Dragon’s plight and his eyes lit up.
Instantly shrinking back to his tiny form, wings flapping, he shot toward the enemy like a streak of light.
“Kyaaaa!”
The expert faltered, baffled why a dragon that had been dominating suddenly reverted to this harmless size.
BOOM!
Still, remembering the threat, he struck seriously.
A blazing sun of fire crossed the void.
Pfft!
The tiny dragon was sent flying.
Neck stiff, head lolling, he spat a jet of blood mixed with… drool?
Wailing pitifully, he tumbled through the void like a ball.
The Azure Dragon’s eyes nearly popped out.
Could you be any more shameless?!
Have some dignity!
You’re not losing—you’re winning!
The expert who struck the little dragon blinked, equally stunned that a single blow had drawn blood.
That dragon’s defense had been monstrous—those dark-gold scales and origin-infused attacks had given him endless headaches. Yet now… one hit had done this?
For some reason, though, no joy stirred in his heart.
Clack.
The crisp sound of a piece falling on a board rang through the void.
It was the clear note of a game being played beneath an old pine.
It echoed in every ear.
Hearing it, the Azure Dragon and little dragon spat blood with even greater enthusiasm.
Pfft! Pfft!
Their two opponents suddenly felt an overwhelming crisis.
As if two invisible pieces had dropped right above their heads.
BOOM! BOOM!
Before they could even flee, both Out-of-Body experts detonated into bloody mist.
Flesh and bone obliterated.
Shrieks of agony rang out as their souls fled in terror.
“What?!”
The experts surrounding Zhulong paled.
They hadn’t even seen what happened—two of their own were simply gone!
A suffocating pressure settled over their hearts, as though something utterly terrifying had locked onto them.
On the blood-colored battlefield, every cultivator—Five Phoenixes or Tian Yuan alike—erupted into cheers.
Heaven as the board, stars as the pieces!
This was Young Master Lu’s chessboard!
The Lord of White Jade Capital, Lu Ping’an, had appeared!
The Five Phoenixes were saved!
Dantai Xuan clenched his fists, face flushed with uncontrollable excitement.
The Overlord drew a deep breath, tightening his grip on axe and shield.
Nie Changqing, Nie Changqing, and the others all wore looks of eager anticipation.
Ni Yu, trembling with joy, popped three more sugar-coated body-tempering pills into her mouth.
“Young Master… is coming!”
Her eyes sparkled.
Ten years apart in the immortal ruins—she had missed him terribly.
Finally, she would see him again!
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Even Nie Changqing felt a flutter of expectation.
BOOM!
A terrifying tremor shook the void.
“Who are you?!”
The lightning-wreathed expert roared, thunder exploding from his eyes.
The two soul-only experts fled desperately.
Clank, clank…
Suddenly, the rhythmic march of boots echoed in perfect unison.
Above the Five Phoenixes, mist churned into dense yin energy. From it emerged a chilling army.
Rusted armor, deathly faces, corroded halberds, tattered banners.
They marched in perfect squares, yin energy rolling like black tides.
The Yin Soldiers had descended!
This was the very scene Holy Son Beigong had witnessed before death—the soldiers that had dragged his soul away.
The armored man’s face twisted; every Out-of-Body expert felt a chill crawl up their spines.
Zhulong reverted to human form, eyes closed, long lashes trembling.
She coughed blood that stained her robes crimson, standing quietly in the void like an untouched maiden.
“Those are… the ghost soldiers from the Ninth Nether’s hidden domain!”
Many Five Phoenixes cultivators had trained in the Ninth Nether and recognized them instantly.
Clank!
Cold chains whipped through the void.
Faintly, a ghostly city materialized. Atop it, a colossal shadowy figure flung out hooked sickles.
Ding-ling-ling…
The sickles streaked across the emptiness and instantly snared the two fleeing souls.
The experts, already panicked birds with bent bows, had no idea how their bodies had been destroyed.
Now the ghost city’s reappearance shattered their minds.
The armored man’s pupils shrank.
The ghost city again—the same one that had taken Holy Son Beigong’s soul!
No matter how the two souls struggled, the sickles were made for reaping spirits. They tore gaping wounds, soul fragments raining like blood.
The scene was gruesomely chilling.
Atop the ghost city, a yin registrar wrote with sweeping strokes, granting passage to the soldiers.
Soon both souls were dragged inside.
This time…
The ghost city did not vanish as it had after taking Holy Son Beigong.
It hovered silently, waiting for more.
BOOM!
The entire void exploded into chaos!
“Who the hell is doing this?!”
The eerie spectacle sent shivers to the marrow.
Suddenly every Out-of-Body expert looked around—they were standing on a chessboard.
“Playing tricks!”
The armored man bellowed.
Demonic aura erupted from him as he thrust his spear skyward, trying to tear the board apart.
Then every heart jolted.
A figure appeared in their vision—a titanic being that blotted out the heavens, seated upon a throne of stacked silver blades.
White robes, transcendent, ethereal.
Seeing that heaven-blocking silhouette, every Five Phoenixes cultivator went wild with joy.
A gentleman unmatched beneath the heavens!
He had come!
The Lord of White Jade Capital—Lu Ping’an!
“Young Master… is huge!”
Ni Yu, black pot on her back, chubby cheeks quivering, stared in awe at the colossal figure spanning the void.
Lu sat beyond the chessboard like a banished immortal.
Li Sansi trembled beneath his black robes, letting out a heavy sigh as his withered vines slowly retracted.
He knew…
Once again, she did not need him.
He stood rooted, loneliness radiating from him.
The Empress’s pretty face flushed scarlet, words tumbling out in excitement.
“Brother Lu! It’s Brother Lu!”
Du Longyang, Ye Shoudao, and the newly advanced Young Master Tianxu all stared with shining eyes.
“Who are you?!”
The armored man roared, his aura blazing like the sun as he thrust his spear.
The titanic Lu gazed down calmly, eyes undisturbed, watching the man like an insect hopping on the board.
Slowly he raised a hand, rolled up his sleeve, and pinched a jade-like piece between two fingers.
The piece fell like a star.
Straight toward the armored man’s head.
A desperate roar tore through the void.
Sixth-layer Out-of-Body—the equivalent of a six-step Yang God—the armored man suddenly felt boundless pressure crushing him.
He watched helplessly as the piece descended.
His flesh and blood disintegrated into ash beneath its weight.
Terror filled his eyes!
“Mercy!”
Clack.
The piece settled.
The armored man’s body exploded completely into drifting ash.
His soul shot out.
But the moment it emerged, sickles from the ghost city lashed out like fishing lines across the stars, piercing his soul and dragging it back amid a rain of spiritual fragments.
His soul wailed in despair.
“Mercy!”
He had never imagined that as a sixth-layer Out-of-Body expert, he would perish in the Nihility Heaven.
“Who are you?!”
His soul screamed.
Who was this person?!
What kind of world was this?!
A girl with a divine ability, multiple Out-of-Body guardians despite not yet being high-martial…
Geniuses who could suppress holy sons and maidens.
This world was too strange!
And now—a being who filled him with utter despair.
Yet Lu didn’t even bother answering.
The armored man despaired completely.
Did he not even deserve to know the man’s name?
Wait…
Suddenly a thought struck him.
Could it be…
The girl wasn’t the plane lord at all—the one acting now was?!
He opened his mouth to speak.
But the sickle had already yanked his soul into the ghost city.
Dead silence blanketed heaven and earth.
Then—
Like boiling water, everything erupted!
The armored man had not been weak.
A sixth-layer Out-of-Body from Beigong Holy Land—among the strongest present—yet he had been crushed like an ant on a chessboard!
The experts surrounding Zhulong panicked.
Not just them—the watching wanderers and holy sons and maidens felt their hearts hammer.
Who… was this person?!
“Run!”
The armored man’s death shocked them into action.
Without hesitation, Out-of-Body experts scattered in all directions like fleeing suns.
Their speed was blinding.
Yet when they reached the edge of the chessboard, invisible walls blocked them—they could not escape!
“An array?!”
One expert roared in horror.
The seventh-layer lightning-wreathed expert inhaled deeply.
Lightning converged as he punched the barrier.
BOOM!
Thunder serpents writhed through the void, but the wall held.
“We can’t escape!”
“If we can’t run, then fight! Together—kill him!”
The lightning expert bellowed.
The armored man’s death had chilled him to the bone—he was barely stronger.
Yes—if escape was impossible, they would fight to the death!
The others snapped out of their daze.
They glared at the colossal seated figure.
He was the player; they were pieces he intended to crush.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
No longer holding back, every Out-of-Body expert unleashed heaven-shaking power!
The lightning expert charged like a thunder god, over a dozen others close behind.
The void twisted; heaven and earth trembled—they would shatter this board!
The titanic Lu gave a warm, gentle smile—like the kind boy next door.
Warm as jade, his smile felt like spring breeze.
One hand rolled his sleeve, the other held a piece.
With that same simple motion—he dropped it.
Overwhelming spiritual pressure erupted like a storm!
The lightning expert felt his hair stand on end!
“Mighty being?!”
Disbelief filled his face as the words burst from his lips.
The holy sons and maidens cried out in shock.
The distant wanderers looked as if they’d seen ghosts.
A mighty being?!
A true mighty being with a primordial spirit?!
How could the Nihility Heaven birth a mighty being?!
Impossible!
The strongest the Nihility Heaven allowed was Out-of-Body!
Anything beyond would be suppressed by the tangled laws!
Even mighty beings from other high-martial worlds could not easily descend, fearing their primordial spirits would be ground to dust.
Yet one had appeared here?!
Holy Son Qingling paled; the burly holy son atop his bird went ice-cold.
The golden boy and jade girl on their crane screamed in terror.
A mighty being?!
In the Nihility Heaven?!
In a mid-martial world?!
Steal fortune? What fortune was there to steal?!
“That bald donkey from the High-Martial Buddhist World lied to us!”
“He sent us here to die!”
“Damn that monk—he ruined us!”
Holy sons and maidens cursed aloud, no longer caring about decorum.
Ignoring their protectors, they turned and fled toward the edge of the Nihility Heaven.
On the withered continent, Qi Liujia watched the sudden reversal and sneered.
People from high-martial worlds were still just people.
Still mortals who feared death.
The united Out-of-Body experts trembled.
“A mighty being with a primordial spirit?!”
“Impossible… the laws of the Nihility Heaven forbid it!”
“He must be fake! He has to be!”
They roared in denial.
They refused to believe—or rather, they trusted the heavenly laws more.
The laws declared no mighty being could exist here.
Therefore, none could!
Lu’s expression remained calm as still water.
Another piece fell.
Ripples spread across the board like a pebble dropped into a mirror-calm lake.
BOOM!
A thunderous explosion.
Every attacking Out-of-Body expert burst into clouds of blood!
Even the lightning-wreathed seventh-layer expert bled from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth!
Too strong!
This power… was undeniably that of a mighty being!
All their lingering hope collapsed.
Zhulong stood quietly, chin raised, eyes closed, lashes trembling, but a satisfied curve touched her lips.
Serves you right for bullying me.
The lightning expert said nothing, but his eyes were bloodshot with despair.
He looked at Zhulong—ruthlessness flashing.
To survive, perhaps one chance remained!
The others seemed to realize the same.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Madness took them. They burned every ounce of power, erupting in blinding light.
They shot toward Zhulong.
A girl with a divine ability—she was surely this world’s greatest heaven-defying genius. Her life must be priceless!
Take her hostage, and maybe—just maybe—they could bargain for their lives!
As long as they escaped the Nihility Heaven, they could live!
Zhulong froze.
She hadn’t expected every single one to charge at her.
The titanic Lu also paused.
Then the warm smile slowly faded from his face.
“I had intended to spare you, let you contribute to the Five Phoenixes’ growth… Yet you dare take advantage of my good temper?”
His voice boomed across the heavens.
Then came a whistling roar.
A streak of silver light blazed—like a galaxy cascading from the Ninth Heaven.
The first silver gleam shot from beyond the board.
Then countless more followed—dense as a starry river shifting!
They poured down in a torrent!
Sword qi swirled protectively around Zhulong.
The Thousand Blade Sword!
It was as if ten thousand swords returned to their sect—the entire void became an ocean of sword energy.
Pfft! Pfft!
Agonized screams filled the air.
Every Out-of-Body expert was sliced apart, beheaded, then exploded into bloody mist.
Even the seventh-layer lightning expert was no exception. His lightning shattered; a silver blade pierced his skull, bursting it into red and white fireworks.
Clank, clank…
From the ghost city, sickles whipped out in eerie frenzy, piercing soul after soul, dragging them back inside.
“Uncle Lei!”
The burly holy son atop his bird cried out in horror.
His shout drew Lu’s attention.
The titanic white-robed youth glanced at him.
The ferocious bird beneath the holy son wailed and trembled in terror.
Lu did not kill the holy sons and maidens.
With a flick of his finger, an ice tower materialized.
Crystalline and radiant.
Du Longyang, Ye Shoudao, and the others felt a pang of familiar warmth—and sorrow.
The tower remained, but Fu Tianluo was gone.
BOOM!
The holy sons and maidens fled frantically.
Yet none escaped the tower’s reach. One by one, they were sealed within.
The bloody mist cleared.
All that remained were broken corpses drifting in the void—those once-mighty Out-of-Body experts reduced to wreckage.
The myriad silver blades receded like a fading storm—coming quietly, leaving quietly.
Silence returned.
Every soul stood stunned.
“The ones who deserved death are dead. Now… let us begin.”
Lu’s calm voice thundered across heaven and earth.
On the withered continent, Qi Liujia’s eyes blazed with light.
It was starting!
In the void, the white-robed Lu smiled lightly.
He swept a hand across the board—all pieces vanished.
Then he picked up one final piece and slowly placed it.
Right on the central heavenly origin point.
Clack!
The piece fell, and storms raged!
The roar of the origin shook every world in the Nihility Heaven!
Far away, the wanderers—already frozen in fear and cold sweat—stood utterly dumbfounded.
Because they understood.
At this very moment…
Under the hand of this white-robed mighty being…
The Five Phoenixes…
Were ascending to high-martial!
