272: Chapter 271 Chess Pieces

Great Elder Su Heng opened his eyes and looked at Jiang Hanzhou.

His eyes were very bright, shining like two lanterns. But in those eyes, there were no human emotions, only a hollow, numb, stagnant calmness like dead water.

"You are Master Xue Mu's Disciple, Jiang Hanzhou." His voice was calm, yet contained an indescribable chill. "Did you think that by changing your appearance, this old man wouldn't recognize you?"

Jiang Hanzhou's heart sank abruptly.

He didn't speak, only slowly reaching his right hand toward his sumeru pouch, preparing to take out the tiger soul saber.

Great Elder Su Heng laughed, a hideous smile like a curse from the depths of Hell. "Don't waste your energy. This old man sensed your Dao-Slaying Blade Intent long ago. From the moment you stepped into Bibo Pool, I knew you had come."

He stood up and grasped the black jade token before him. The blood-colored patterns on the token swirled frantically, letting out a sharp screech. The screech wasn't loud, but it pierced directly into the Divine Soul, making the entire cultivation room tremble.

"You aren't Great Elder Su Heng," Jiang Hanzhou said, his voice calm. "You are a hidden pawn for the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person."

Great Elder Su Heng shook his head. "No. I am Great Elder Su Heng, an Inner Sect Elder of Bibo Pool. But the dao seed within me has already matured. The remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person is parasitic within my dao seed."

He paused and said word by word, "I am not the new host. I am merely a pawn of Dragon Slaying True Person, a controlled pawn that can be discarded at any time. The true new host is someone else."

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils constricted suddenly. "Who?"

Great Elder Su Heng laughed, his smile full of mockery. "Do you think I would tell you?"

He raised his right hand, and the black jade token exploded, turning into countless fine black threads that shot toward Jiang Hanzhou. Those threads contained the Origin power of the dao seed, specifically designed to devour the Divine Soul and swallow True Intent.

Jiang Hanzhou did not retreat.

With a flip of his right hand, the tiger soul saber shot out from the sumeru pouch and landed in his palm. The four-colored radiance on the blade surged, illuminating the entire cultivation room as bright as day.

He swung his saber and struck.

Dao-Slaying Blade Intent.

It wasn't aimed at Great Elder Su Heng's Physical Body or his Divine Soul, but at the dao seed within him.

The saber light silently sank into Great Elder Su Heng's body.

Great Elder Su Heng's body suddenly froze.

His face turned deathly pale, and a stream of black blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The dao seed inside him shattered inch by inch under the impact of the Dao-Slaying Blade Intent. The black threads lost control, dancing wildly in the air and letting out shrill screeches.

But Great Elder Su Heng did not fall.

He just stood there, looking at Jiang Hanzhou, a strange smile hooked on his lips.

"It's useless," his voice grew weaker, like a flickering candle in the wind. "My dao seed has already matured and is deeply bound to the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person. If you sever the dao seed, I die. If you don't, I also die. My life has not belonged to me since the moment I entered the Dragon Slaying Cave Mansion forty years ago."

He paused and said word by word, "But I can tell you one thing. The true new host is not in Bibo Pool, not on Heavenly Sword Peak, not on Red Fire Peak, and not on any other peak."

"He is at the core of the Dragon Abyss Palace, in a place no one would ever expect."

"You will never find him."

As he finished speaking, Great Elder Su Heng's body suddenly swelled. Beneath his skin, the black patterns swirled frantically, erupting with a blinding black light. He was going to self-detonate, intending to take Jiang Hanzhou with him.

Jiang Hanzhou gritted his teeth and pushed his Dao-Slaying Blade Intent to its limit.

The Heart Blade vibrated suddenly, and the dark-gold dragon patterns on the blade burst with brilliant golden light. That light pierced through the Sea of Consciousness, surged through his Meridians into the tiger soul saber, and transformed into a simple, unadorned saber light that struck into Great Elder Su Heng's body once more.

The dao seed shattered completely.

The moment the dao seed shattered, Great Elder Su Heng's body stiffened and then slowly fell. His eyes remained open, staring at the ceiling of the Immortal Cave, with that same eerie smile on his lips.

He was dead.

Great Elder Su Heng, an Inner Sect Elder of Bibo Pool at the Early Stage of the Dragon-Elephant Intersection Realm, had died in his own Immortal Cave.

Jiang Hanzhou sheathed his saber and stood before Great Elder Su Heng's corpse, remaining silent for a long time.

Then, he crouched down and searched through Great Elder Su Heng's sumeru pouch. Inside were Spirit Stones, Medicinal Pills, and secret cultivation manuals, as well as a sealed Jade Slip.

He took out the Jade Slip and extended his Divine Sense into it.

In the Jade Slip, there was only one sentence:

"The new host is by the Palace Master's side."

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils constricted sharply.

By the Palace Master's side.

Palace Master Longyuan.

He stood up, put the Jade Slip into his sumeru pouch, and strode out of the Immortal Cave.

Outside the Immortal Cave, the two guard Disciples were slumped on the ground, knocked unconscious by the aftershocks of the battle. Jiang Hanzhou ignored them and walked toward the Bibo Hall.

He needed to find Master Qingxuan and Teng Yuzhi to tell them Great Elder Su Heng's dying words.

The new host is by the Palace Master's side.

By the time Jiang Hanzhou left Great Elder Su Heng's Immortal Cave, it was already dusk.

The bamboo forest of Bibo Pool rustled in the twilight, green bamboo leaves falling in the wind like countless fine blades flying through the Void Realm. His pace was hurried, and his Dao-Slaying Blade Intent continued to operate at full capacity in his Sea of Consciousness, staying alert for any potential threats.

Great Elder Su Heng was dead.

But the words in that Jade Slip were like a thorn, deeply embedded in his heart.

The new host is by the Palace Master's side.

Who was by the Palace Master's side? Palace Master Longyuan's Personal Disciple, the head of Tianji Peak, Su Jingchen; Palace Master Longyuan's personal attendant, that silent middle-aged deacon; and the Core Disciples who guarded the Dragon Abyss Hall day and night.

Every single one of them could be the new host.

Every one of them could be the vessel for the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person.

Jiang Hanzhou took a deep breath and suppressed these stray thoughts. Now was not the time for this. He needed to return to Red Fire Peak first, report Great Elder Su Heng's death and the words in the Jade Slip to Master Xue Mu, and then discuss their next move.

He walked down the bluestone steps toward the mountain gate of Bibo Pool.

Halfway down the mountain, his footsteps came to a sudden halt.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, his Dao-Slaying Blade Intent suddenly grew restless.

The Heart Blade vibrated violently, and the dark-gold dragon patterns on the blade erupted with blinding golden light. That light was not an attack, but a resonance, vibrating in an indescribable way with a certain power in the distance.

The resonance surged into his Sea of Consciousness wave after wave like a tide, causing a massive wave to rise in his lake of divine soul. The thick layer of Divine Soul Armor on the surface of the lake shook violently, nearly shattering.

Jiang Hanzhou's expression changed drastically.

He closed his eyes and focused all his effort on sensing the source of the resonance. The Dao-Slaying Blade Intent traced back against the frequency of the vibration, piercing through the Void Realm, mountains, and Formations, finally locking onto the depths of Bibo Pool, in the direction of Great Elder Su Heng's Immortal Cave.

Great Elder Su Heng.

He was dead, but his dao seed had not completely dissipated.

Within those shattered dao seed fragments was the brand of Dragon Slaying True Person's remnant soul. The brand was activated the moment Great Elder Su Heng died, beginning to resonate with the dao seed inside Jiang Hanzhou.

It wasn't a natural resonance, but a deliberate pull.

Before he died, Great Elder Su Heng had used his own dao seed as a primer and Dragon Slaying True Person's remnant soul as a medium to set a trap. He wanted to use the dao seed resonance to lead the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person to lock onto Jiang Hanzhou's location.

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils constricted suddenly.

"Damn it."

He cursed under his breath and immediately sat down cross-legged, circulating the Spirit Concentration Art.

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the lake of divine soul suddenly boiled. The Divine Soul Armor on the lake's surface erupted with brilliant, translucent white light, wrapping around and suppressing the Heart Blade layer by layer, trying to sever the connection between the Dao-Slaying Blade Intent and that resonance.

But the resonance was too strong.

Great Elder Su Heng's dao seed had been mature for decades and was deeply bound to the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person. By detonating the dao seed before his death, he had poured all his remaining power into the resonance, all to let Dragon Slaying True Person's remnant soul sense Jiang Hanzhou's location.

Jiang Hanzhou gritted his teeth and pushed the Spirit Concentration Art to its absolute limit.

The water in the lake of divine soul began to spin, forming a massive vortex. In the center of the vortex, the Heart Blade hung above the Sea of Consciousness, its dark-gold dragon patterns swirling frantically, and the dark-gold halo at the edge of the blade grew brighter and brighter.

He was going to use the Heart Blade to sever the resonance link.

He wasn't striking at Great Elder Su Heng's dao seed fragments or Dragon Slaying True Person's remnant soul, but at the invisible resonance channel between the two.

The Heart Blade vibrated, letting out a clear, resonant hum.

The hum pierced through his Sea of Consciousness and Physical Body, transforming into a simple, unadorned saber light in the Void Realm that struck directly at the resonance channel.

The moment the saber light struck, Jiang Hanzhou's body jolted violently.

An indescribable backlash surged out from the resonance channel, following the saber light back into his Sea of Consciousness. That power was cold, metallic, and violent, like thousands of insects biting his Divine Soul simultaneously.

A trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.

But he did not back down.

Gritting his teeth, he used his will to prevent his Divine Soul from collapsing, using the Heart Blade to suppress all the backlash and the Spirit Concentration Art to stabilize the turbulence in his lake of divine soul.

Three breaths.

Five breaths.

Ten breaths.

The resonance channel shattered inch by inch under the saber light's strike, and those cold powers grew weaker and more scattered, finally vanishing into nothingness.

The resonance was broken.

Jiang Hanzhou opened his eyes, his face as pale as paper and his breathing ragged. In his Sea of Consciousness, the area of the lake of divine soul had shrunk by nearly a third, and the dark-gold halo on the Heart Blade had dimmed considerably.

But he had succeeded.

He had severed the resonance link, preventing the remnant soul of Dragon Slaying True Person from locking onto his location.

The price was that he had exposed his whereabouts.

At the moment the resonance was severed, the power fluctuations of the Dao-Slaying Blade Intent were like a signal fire in the dark of night, spreading in all directions. That fluctuation was so strong that every Cultivator within a hundred miles could clearly sense it.

The remnants of the Heavenly Sword Peak, the hidden Disciples of the Ten Thousand Gu Sect, and those who had been searching for him in the shadows now all knew his location.

Jiang Hanzhou stood up and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

He had no time to regulate his breathing, no time to recover, and not even time to think. He could only leave, getting away from Bibo Pool and back to Red Fire Peak as quickly as possible.

He activated his footwork, his figure darting rapidly through the bamboo forest.

He pushed the Wave-Treading Step to the limit, each step covering several yards and leaving behind a trail of afterimages in the air. His speed was as fast as lightning, moving like a phantom in the twilight.

But he knew that speed alone wouldn't be enough to escape.

Among the remnants of the Heavenly Sword Peak were experts in the Dragon-Elephant Intersection Realm. Among the hidden Disciples of the Ten Thousand Gu Sect were assassins skilled in tracking techniques. They wouldn't give him a moment to catch his breath.

Sure enough.

Before he had even traveled ten miles from the Bibo Pool mountain gate, the first wave of ambushers arrived.

Three black shadows shot out from the woods by the road at extreme speed, leaving only three blurry afterimages in the twilight. Three long swords simultaneously stabbed toward his throat, heart, and Dantian, each strike filled with intense killing intent.

Jiang Hanzhou's pupils constricted slightly.

He did not draw his saber.

He simply raised his right hand, and with a thought, the Heart Blade deep within his Sea of Consciousness vibrated. A simple, unadorned saber light shot out from between his brows, silently striking toward the three black shadows.

Divine Intent Heavenly Saber.

It wasn't aimed at their Physical Bodies, but at their Divine Souls.

The moment the saber light entered the bodies of the three black shadows, their bodies froze. Their eyes became hollow, their faces turned as white as paper, and the long swords in their hands fell powerlessly to the ground.

Three breaths later, all three of them collapsed simultaneously.

They were dead.

Their Divine Souls had been completely annihilated by the Divine Intent Heavenly Saber.

Jiang Hanzhou did not stop, continuing to rush toward the Red Fire Peak. But he knew this was only the first wave. There would be more, stronger, and more bizarre ambushes to come.

Sure enough.

After he had covered another five miles, the second wave of ambushers arrived.

This time it wasn't three people, but ten. All ten were dressed in black with black masks, surrounded by dense blood-colored mist. Their aura was eerie and cold—the characteristic Gu technique fluctuations of the Ten Thousand Gu Sect.

The ten of them formed a bizarre Formation, surrounding Jiang Hanzhou in the center. As the Formation activated, countless fine black threads emerged from the Void Realm, coiling toward him.

Those threads contained Soul-Devouring Poison, specifically targeting the Divine Soul.

Jiang Hanzhou's brow furrowed suddenly.

He didn't retreat because he knew he couldn't. The Formation blocked all his paths of escape; no matter which way he went, he would be ensnared by the threads.

With a flip of his right hand, the tiger soul saber shot out from the sumeru pouch and landed in his palm.

The four-colored radiance on the blade surged—red, gold, blue, and purple intertwining to form a Small World at the blade's edge that existed independently of the heavens and earth.

He swung his saber and struck.

Tidal Heaven-Burning Slash.

This wasn't a probe or a battle of attrition, but a full-strength strike.

The moment the saber light was released, the temperature of the entire world spiked by hundreds of degrees. That saber light contained the longevity of the Tide, the intensity of the Pure Yang, the sharpness of the Metal Sharpness, and the volatility of the Heavenly Fire—four types of True Intent perfectly fused into a simple, unadorned arc.

Wherever the saber light passed, the black threads were severed like paper. The broken threads let out shrill screeches before being completely annihilated by the Dragon-Slaying True Intent within the strike.

The expressions of the ten black-clad men changed drastically.

They wanted to retreat, but they couldn't. The saber light was too fast, so fast they didn't even have time to dodge.

The moment the saber light struck the Formation, the entire structure vibrated violently, and the Formation patterns shattered inch by inch. The ten black-clad men spat out blood, their bodies flying backward and crashing heavily onto the ground.

Jiang Hanzhou did not give them a chance to catch his breath.

He activated his footwork, darting among the ten men. Each time the tiger soul saber swung, another black-clad man fell. It wasn't their Physical Bodies being severed, but their Divine Souls being annihilated by the Divine Intent Heavenly Saber.

Five breaths later, all ten of them were dead.

Jiang Hanzhou sheathed his saber and continued rushing toward the Red Fire Peak.