198: Chapter 198: Your rules can’t trap me!

Jiang Xuan slowly closed his eyes. The chaos stone tablet within him rotated. Although he knew that everything before him was an illusion, a sharp pain still involuntarily pierced his heart.

He recalled the words his parents and sister had said to him before he left: "Xuaner, go and do what you want to do. You are our pride. Brother, Qing He is waiting for you to return."

The two sets of images gradually overlapped. Jiang Xuan suddenly opened his eyes. "I seek the Great Dao precisely so that such regrets do not occur. A mere illusion, you wish to stop me!"

As his voice fell, the Law of the Sword Dao circulated around Jiang Xuan, instantly tearing through the Void Realm. The illusion before him gradually shattered into countless fragments, transforming into specks of starlight that formed several large characters, engraved on the stone steps of the golden Great Dao.

"Follow your heart, tread your path."

The eight golden characters overshadowed all the inscriptions left by previous Prodigies on the steps, emitting a dazzling light.

Jiang Xuan looked at the characters, his gaze firm. His Divine Soul power surged dramatically, instantly stepping into the Great Emperor Perfection level. To have his Divine Soul power reach Great Emperor Perfection before even becoming a Great Emperor himself—if this were to spread, it would undoubtedly become another legend.

Jiang Xuan tapped his toe, crossing the illusionary area. The bronze door behind him vanished, turning into nothingness. The Emperor Road, once entered, offered no turning back.

Before him, a purple crystal floated. The aura emanating from it was extremely similar to his Heavenly Emperor Dharma Idol. Jiang Xuan secretly speculated, "This purple crystal should be related to the Heavenly Emperor Fruit Position at the end of the Emperor Road."

Putting away the crystal, he looked around. There was no one else. It seemed that each trial within this Emperor Road was experienced individually.

Amidst his thoughts, Jiang Xuan's steps did not falter as he continued toward the steps ahead.

"Ding! Detecting the Host's current situation. Now issuing a mission. Mission One: Obtain the Heavenly Emperor Fruit Position. Reward: 50 million limit points, Progenitor Dragon Bloodline directly evolves to its complete state."

"Mission Two: Help the people of the Heavenly Realm obtain the Great Emperor Fruit Position, allowing them to Breakthrough to Great Emperor. Reward: 30 million limit points, one bronze fragment."

Jiang Xuan's advancing steps suddenly froze. The System's rewards this time truly astonished him. Each item was of great use to him. If he could successfully complete them, he would become utterly invincible on the continent!

"Whoosh!"

A violent fluctuation pulled him back from his joy. An ancient aura once again emerged, and a bronze door once again blocked his path.

Was this another new checkpoint? Jiang Xuan roughly sensed that from the previous bronze door to this location was about ten thousand zhang, while the end of the Emperor Road was a full hundred thousand zhang. This meant that there were still ten checkpoints awaiting Jiang Xuan.

Good heavens, as expected of the burial ground of Prodigies. Even before entering the end of the Emperor Road to contend for the Fruit Position, these ten checkpoints alone would likely stop most people.

Shaking his head, Jiang Xuan looked at the massive bronze door with a firm expression. Without any hesitation, he stepped inside. Regardless of what obstacles lay ahead, if they dared to block his path, he would simply cut them down.

At the same time, in the Demon Realm's Emperor Road and the Monster Realm's Emperor Road, Jiu You and the Demon Ancestor were each traversing the Emperor Road, breaking through the checkpoints along the way at an extremely fast pace, heading towards the end of the Emperor Road.

Unlike Jiang Xuan and the others, Bei Mingtian and Man Dali, after stepping through the first bronze door, encountered no further obstacles. They proceeded unimpeded and quickly arrived at the gates of the Emperor Palace.

Bei Mingtian glanced at the opposing camp, not finding the figure he was wary of, and immediately began to mock, "Heh heh, why don't I see our number one Prodigy, Desolate Heaven? He couldn't have gotten stuck inside the bronze door and can't get out, could he? Hahahaha!"

As these words came out, everyone behind Bei Mingtian burst into laughter simultaneously. "What number one Prodigy? I think he can't even compare to a single hair on Lord Bei Ming!"

Hearing everyone's taunts, Man Dali was also puzzled. Why hadn't Boss come out yet? It shouldn't be. Even those idiots on the other side had arrived.

Then, he picked up his giant hammer, and without another word, swung it towards the other side. "Damn it, I've been annoyed with you guys for a long time! I'll hammer you to death!"

"Courting death!"

Bei Mingtian's expression darkened in anger. He said to the people behind him, "Kill them! The Great Emperor Fruit Position will be ours!"

"Boom! Boom!"

As several loud bangs echoed, the two sides instantly erupted into battle. Just then, an ancient, heavy voice sounded.

"Click... Creak..."

The gate of the Emperor Palace slowly opened. A profound, vast Emperor's Might emanated from within, instantly halting the fighting between the two sides.

Bei Mingtian put away his Sacred Artifact, his eyes filled with excitement as he looked at the open Imperial Gate. Then he looked at Man Dali and the others, his gaze turning sinister. "Hmph, I'll deal with you later!"

With that, his figure sped towards the Imperial Gate.

"Don't you dare!"

Seeing this, Man Dali roared and swung his giant hammer, chasing after him... A few days later, inside the last bronze door, Jiang Xuan put away the eighth purple crystal, looking at a huge chessboard in the Void Realm ahead.

The chessboard stretched unknown tens of thousands of miles, with stars, meteorites, mountains, and rivers forming massive chess pieces, exuding an ancient andvicissitudes of life aura.

Around the chessboard lay numerous corpses. They were all Prodigies who had astonished their respective eras in history, yet now they had all fallen here.

In front of the chessboard, a giant phantom sat, its face obscured. A ethereal, emotionless voice echoed in the space, "Victor passes, loser perishes."

Hearing this, Jiang Xuan chuckled, "Heh heh, interesting."

As his voice fell, the Heavenly Emperor Dharma Idol slowly appeared behind him. Jiang Xuan flew up and sat before the chessboard, his eyes gleaming. Let me see what's so special about this final checkpoint that stopped countless Prodigies.

With a thought, Jiang Xuan's Heavenly Emperor Dharma Idol extended a massive palm, grasping the stars, meteorites, and other chess pieces.

He secretly thought, "System, exchange for chess skills and deduction ability."

"Boom."

A vast memory instantly flooded Jiang Xuan's mind. Countless knowledge related to chess and deduction abilities appeared in his memory, as if innate.

At this moment, he felt like the Dominator of the chessboard realm, moving pieces with lightning speed, displaying astonishing chess skills and deduction ability, locked in an intricate battle with the phantom opposite him.

However, as the game progressed, Jiang Xuan gradually felt something was wrong. No matter how he played, the opponent seemed to know his next move, stifling him on the board in advance.

Jiang Xuan's brows furrowed tightly, the pressure growing, as if the entire world was pressing down on his Divine Soul.

Just as the opposing phantom placed a piece, forming a checkmate and about to utterly destroy Jiang Xuan's pieces, Jiang Xuan suddenly stopped, his piece suspended in mid-air.

He slowly looked up, his gaze no longer confined to the chess situation, but piercing through the stars, meteorites, mountains, and rivers. Finally, he looked at the starry sky itself that supported this chessboard, a smile playing on his lips, and the Law of the Sword Dao slowly emerged around him.

"The Dao is not a chessboard, and the Emperor Road is not a cage. If Cultivators like us are confined within rules, how can we speak of transcendence? This game, it's not worth playing. My path is not on the chessboard, and your rules cannot trap me!"

Jiang Xuan's voice shook the heavens. Then he pointed a finger, and the destructive power of the Law of the Sword Dao instantly crushed the starry sky supporting the chessboard. The entire chessboard began to tremble violently, and soon completely disintegrated.

The giant phantom opposite paused for a moment, as if observing Jiang Xuan, then dissipated into the world along with the chessboard.