250: Exquisite chess game, breaking through the maze

Due to the time crunch, Mu Feng didn't check its information and directly put it into his Storage Ring, planning to examine it when he had time.

After collecting the items dropped by the snake-shaped Puppet,

Mu Feng quickly went to the tiger-shaped and monkey-shaped Puppets, gathered all the dropped parts, and packed them into his Storage Ring.

“Only ten seconds left! Hurry and leave, or the walls here will change.”

Seeing the red prompt appear,

Mu Feng no longer hesitated.

He immediately rushed towards the passage ahead.

With his current speed, ten seconds was certainly enough; he was only rushing to be safe.

He liked to leave himself room to maneuver.

This way, even if an accident occurred, he would have time to react.

No accident occurred.

After two swishing sounds,

Mu Feng and Little Lizard appeared at the end of the passage.

“Go west. This time, you need to pass within five seconds.”

Seeing only five seconds remaining,

Mu Feng, without thinking, rushed through with Little Lizard.

The Golden Lightning Arrow in his hand was already poised, ready to be fully unleashed to eliminate any obstacles that might appear.

After all, with only five seconds, he couldn't afford to delay.

Mu Feng was very fast.

And the expected Puppets did not appear.

It seemed that not every time would he encounter Puppets blocking the way.

With two more swishing sounds,

one person and one pet passed through this path.

“Next, keep going left, then forward, then left again, then right…”

After Mu Feng passed the five-second test, the red prompt appeared again before him.

This time, many prompts appeared.

Mu Feng remembered all of them firmly.

After cultivating, his memory had become excellent; he could almost remember something with just one glance.

Mu Feng estimated that it might be related to his Divine Soul becoming stronger.

Following the directions given by the System in his memory,

Mu Feng and Little Lizard moved like a Dragon through the maze.

Before long, they had passed more than half of the maze.

And apart from the initial Puppet blockade, no other Puppets appeared afterward.

This made Mu Feng breathe a sigh of relief.

Although those Puppets weren't powerful, they were still at the Nascent Soul Stage.

If they kept appearing, it would be very troublesome.

Not to mention anything else, his internal True Qi might not even be enough.

“Go forward, but there seems to be a Formation blocking the central area. If you can't break it, you'll be sent back to the entrance.”

“Formation?”

Mu Feng activated his Spiritual Eye Divine Power, and after a quick scan, he found that there was indeed a Formation in the middle.

This Formation was very peculiar; it was unlike any other Formation he had seen before.

It resembled a chessboard.

“Is it asking me to play chess to pass?”

“My chess skills seem to be just average.”

Mu Feng scratched his head.

He wasn't good at playing chess.

“It's not playing chess, but it is indeed related to a chess game. This is an exquisite chess game of Chinese Chess.”

“You only have ten minutes. If you can't break this chess game after the time is up, you will be sent back to the starting position.”

“Exquisite Chess Game?”

“It seems to be recorded in the Array Secrets.”

Mu Feng's eyes lit up when he realized it wasn't about playing chess.

He remembered that the Array Secrets Li Chenxi had given him previously contained descriptions and solutions for this Exquisite Chess Game.

“It's indeed an Exquisite Chess Game.”

Upon opening the Array Secrets, the record on it was identical to what he saw.

“Solution, solution… Found it.”

“So that's how it is.”

The Exquisite Chess Game was not a traditional Formation in the usual sense.

Instead, it was a Formation laid out by manipulating the positions of Chinese Chess and Go pieces.

Therefore, the solution was also related to the gameplay of chess.

After a few glances, Mu Feng understood how to break this Chinese Chess-related Exquisite Chess Game.

Simply put, the chess game would have various scattered Chinese Chess pieces.

Once you entered the Formation, your movements could not allow those pieces to “capture” you.

For example, a horse moves in an 'L' shape.

So, if there's a horse nearby, you can't be in an 'L' shape relative to its position.

Otherwise, it would be considered a failure.

Similarly,

if there's a chariot in front of you, you cannot appear in its direct line, or it will come and capture you directly.

Knowing how to avoid this Exquisite Chess Game would halve its difficulty.

The remaining half depended on your overall strategic vision.

Because the pieces were scattered randomly,

you wouldn't know when you might enter the killing range of other pieces.

It heavily tested one's overall strategic vision; every step required checking if there were any pieces around that could threaten you.

Of course, overall strategic vision wasn't that difficult, especially when your Divine Sense was strong enough to survey the entire situation, breaking the Formation would become simpler.

On this point, Mu Feng was very confident.

“Little Lizard, let's go! Follow my steps later!”

Understanding the solution,

Mu Feng immediately took Little Lizard and stepped into the chess game.

Originally, he wanted to put Little Lizard into his spirit beast bag, but considering there might be other killing moves within the Exquisite Chess Game.

So he released it.

Anyway, Little Lizard was very obedient and wouldn't run around randomly.

He wasn't worried about touching the Formation.

“System Reminder: You have entered the Exquisite Chess Game.”

As the red prompt appeared,

Mu Feng and Little Lizard found themselves inside a chessboard.

Looking around, all they saw were Chinese Chess squares.

As for the pieces on top, they were made of Puppets.

Some were tall and mighty elephants.

Some were majestic warhorses, and some were armored soldiers holding weapons.

The entire chess game exuded a chilling aura of battle.

It felt as if they had not entered a chessboard, but an ancient battlefield.

Even someone as experienced as Mu Feng felt a slight chill in his heart upon entering.

Seeing this, Mu Feng silently circulated the Divine Origin Skill to clear his mind of distracting thoughts.

Only then did he regain his composure.

Little Lizard, however, was unaffected.

It was already a Puppet itself, and its perception of such a chess game was much weaker than Mu Feng's.

“Hmm, let's first observe the entire chess game's changes!”

He had ten minutes, so Mu Feng was not in a hurry to enter.

Instead, he released his Divine Sense.

Only by fully surveying the entire situation could he choose the most accurate path.

“To the front left, there are horses, chariots, elephants, cannons…”

“To the front, there are pawns, advisors, and generals.”

“The middle path seems to have no pieces, seemingly calm but full of killing moves; blindly going there would be in vain.”

“Got it, this path to the front left is viable!”

As his Divine Sense spread, Mu Feng immediately saw through the entire layout of the Exquisite Chess Game.

In a short while, he had found all the safe routes on the entire path.

“Little Lizard, let's go!”

“Remember to follow me.”

With the route confirmed, Mu Feng didn't dally and immediately set off with Little Lizard.

Mu Feng was very fast, twisting left and right, moving forward and sideways across the chessboard, as if dancing, with an indescribable elegance.

More than half the journey was complete, and not a single trap had been triggered.

Logically, this should have been a cause for joy.

However, Mu Feng couldn't bring himself to be happy.

According to his experience, often the calmest places harbored the strongest killing intent.

He dared not let down his guard for a moment.

Sure enough, just as he had passed the halfway point and was preparing to continue forward, the chess pieces in front began to move.

The pawn that was originally on the left suddenly moved to the right.

The pawn, which was previously outside the attack range, immediately appeared before Mu Feng.

Fortunately, he reacted swiftly, and the moment the pawn moved, he immediately dodged to the front right with Little Lizard.

Otherwise, he would surely have lost.

As the pawn moved,

the chariots, horses, and cannons behind it also began to move.

All sorts of things trampled towards him.

The originally orderly chessboard instantly became chaotic.

All the Puppet-made chess pieces attacked him.

It seemed that the first half of this Formation tested the challenger's intelligence.

The latter half, as expected, tested their combat prowess.

“Alright, alright, so this is how you want to play!”

Mu Feng was amused.

However, if he wasn't afraid of the intellectual challenge, he certainly wasn't afraid of the physical one.

Before those Puppets attacked him,

Mu Feng released his Spiritual Eye Divine Power to examine their information.

“Name: Horse-shaped Puppet”

“Realm: Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase”

“Description: A Puppet formed by the power of the chessboard in the Exquisite Chess Game. It is very fast but has low defense. Just defeat it head-on.”

“Weakness: Low defense.”

...

“Name: Elephant-shaped Puppet”

“Realm: Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase”

“Description: A Puppet formed by the power of the chessboard in the Exquisite Chess Game. It has strong power but is clumsy. Try not to get entangled with them.”

“Weakness: Slow speed.”

...

“Name: Pawn-shaped Puppet”

“Realm: Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase”

“Description: A Puppet formed by the power of the chessboard in the Exquisite Chess Game. It has strong power but astonishing speed. It is the truly noteworthy one in the entire chess game.”

“Weakness: None.”

....

Mu Feng quickly scanned them a few times.

Except for the Pawn-shaped Puppets, which were relatively troublesome, the remaining Puppets all had their shortcomings to varying degrees.

“Little Lizard, first help me entangle those Pawn-shaped Puppets.”

“Swish, swish!”

As soon as Mu Feng finished speaking,

Little Lizard immediately moved out, intercepting the five attacking Pawn-shaped Puppets.

Seeing this, Mu Feng also acted immediately.

He extended his right hand, and the Azure Dragon Flag he had used before reappeared.

He directly charged towards the horse-shaped, elephant-shaped, and chariot-shaped Puppets.

“Go!”

With a powerful swing of his arm, over ten azure giant Dragons emerged.

They charged towards the approaching chess game Puppets.

“Boom!”

After a loud bang, more than half of the Puppets were dealt with by him.

Having succeeded in one move,

Mu Feng did not hesitate, swinging the Azure Dragon Flag in his hand again, and charged towards the remaining Puppets.

Although they were all at the Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase,

these Puppets had no skills.

Their combat power was much weaker than normal Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase cultivators.

In less than three minutes, Mu Feng had completely dealt with all of them.

After clearing the chess-shaped Puppets on this side,

Mu Feng dared not slack off in the slightest, immediately waving the flag pole and charging towards the Pawn-shaped Puppets on Little Lizard's side.

Because he knew that in this Exquisite Chess Game, only the Pawn-shaped Puppets were the true killing moves.

The others were just there to make up the numbers.

.....

During the three minutes that Mu Feng spent dealing with the chess-shaped Puppets, Little Lizard was under immense pressure.

Its combat power was actually similar to these Puppets.

Perhaps slightly stronger.

If it were a one-on-one fight, it naturally wouldn't be afraid.

However, facing five opponents simultaneously put it under great pressure.

Fortunately, it didn't need to defeat them; it only needed to rely on its speed to engage in guerrilla warfare.

After several evolutions,

Little Lizard's speed ranked high among the Nascent Soul Stage Yao Beasts Mu Feng had encountered.

Initially, relying on its speed, Little Lizard was relatively relaxed.

However, later, these few Pawn-shaped Puppets also became smart.

They directly formed a pawn Formation to attack.

At this point, Little Lizard began to struggle.

This pawn Formation was very profound, with five attacks almost impenetrable.

Even with Little Lizard's speed, it couldn't dodge them all simultaneously.

After a few minutes,

it didn't even know how many times it had been hit.

Fortunately, after several enhancements, its skin was thick and tough.

There was no need to worry too much in the short term.

It was just a bit uncomfortable.

“Little Lizard, I'm here!”

Just as Little Lizard was starting to struggle, Mu Feng finally rushed over to help.

Mu Feng thrust his spear, and the three Pawn-shaped Puppets that were attacking Little Lizard were sent flying.

With Mu Feng's help, Little Lizard's pressure greatly decreased.

It could finally free its hands to counterattack.

Using both its head and tail, it furiously attacked the remaining two Pawn-shaped Puppets.

Seeing this, Mu Feng also relaxed and dealt with the three Pawn-shaped Puppets on his side.

Compared to the previous Puppets,

these Pawn-shaped Puppets indeed had good combat power.

They were almost at the level of a Dan Formation Stage Initial Phase to Middle Stage cultivator.

Especially the precious blades in their hands, made of unknown material, were incredibly sharp.

Mu Feng dared not clash his Azure Dragon Flag with them.

He could only use Spells to assist his attacks.

“You have three minutes left. If you cannot solve this quickly, you will be teleported back.”

While Mu Feng was engaging in guerrilla warfare with them,

a red prompt appeared, telling him that only three minutes remained.

“Three minutes.”

“It seems I can't keep fighting defensively.”

Originally, he wanted to conserve some True Qi, but seeing only three minutes left, he immediately stopped holding back.

After releasing three giant azure Dragons,

he reached into his Storage Ring, and a small red bottle crackling with lightning appeared in his hand.

It was precisely the Extreme Lightning Bottle, one of the few remaining offensive Magic Treasures he possessed.

With the Magic Treasure out,

Mu Feng's confidence greatly increased.

After filling it with True Qi, Mu Feng turned to look at Little Lizard.

“Little Lizard, you've worked hard this time. Come back now.”

With that, he patted his spirit beast bag and recalled it inside.

Without Little Lizard's entanglement,

the remaining five Pawn-shaped Puppets immediately formed the pawn Formation that had just attacked Little Lizard, and charged towards Mu Feng's position.

Looking at the five approaching Pawn-shaped Puppets,

Mu Feng remained calm.

After they had all gotten close to him,

he poured all his True Qi into the Extreme Lightning Bottle.

“Control!”

As his words fell,

the Extreme Lightning Bottle flew high, and then countless lightning bolts, with Mu Feng as the center, began to attack indiscriminately within a hundred-meter radius!

This move was precisely the 'Control' Secret Art that Mu Feng had never used before.

Previously, when using the Extreme Lightning Bottle, he mostly used the 'Shock' Secret Art.

Focusing an attack on a single enemy.

This 'Control' Secret Art was his first time using it.

However, its power did not disappoint Mu Feng.

The red Divine Thunderbolts were as dense as raindrops.

Those Pawn-shaped Puppets had no way to dodge.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack!

As the Divine Thunderbolts fell,

the crackling sounds around Mu Feng never stopped.

Before long, the five Pawn-shaped Puppets were blasted into fragments.

“What powerful might!”

Mu Feng's face was filled with pleasant surprise.

Mu Feng was very satisfied with his first use of the Extreme Lightning Bottle's 'Control' Secret Art.

The only minor flaw was probably the high consumption of True Qi.