Chapter 19 Guang Chengzi's Dao Heart Shattered

"No..."

A beast-like low growl escaped Guangchengzi's throat, a sound mixed with fear, humiliation, and despair.

He was the dignified first Disciple of the Chan Sect, the most favored Disciple under Yuanshi Tianzun, and a powerhouse at the Peak of the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm.

Yet at this moment, he was like an insect caught in a spider's web, forced to watch as his life essence...

...was ruthlessly extracted along those four stellar chains and poured into this world that imprisoned him.

His cultivation was dropping at a speed that made his Soul Fly Away and Spirit Scatter.

Taiyi Golden Immortal Middle Stage...

Taiyi Golden Immortal Early Stage...

He was about to fall below the Taiyi Realm!

His Dao foundation was collapsing, and his Primordial Spirit was wailing.

Everything he took pride in was being turned into nourishment for his opponent within this bizarre chess game.

This was more painful than killing him!

"Enough! Stop!"

Guangchengzi's hair was disheveled, his eyes as red as blood, looking like a crazed demon.

"You win! I admit defeat! This treasure is yours! Let me leave!"

He finally set aside his ridiculous pride and chose to beg for mercy.

However, Gu Ziyuan, standing upon the ten-thousand-mile starry sky chessboard, merely watched him silently, his gaze as indifferent as if he were looking at a common stone by the roadside.

"Admit defeat?"

Gu Ziyuan's voice echoed clearly across the entire sea area, carrying a hint of faint mockery.

"Daoist brother, the chess game is not yet finished. Where does this talk of admitting defeat come from?"

"You...!" Guangchengzi's chest tightened with rage, nearly causing him to spit blood again.

The chess game isn't finished?

How the hell was he supposed to keep playing? He and his Magic Treasures were almost becoming the opponent's chess pieces!

"You are pushing things too far!" Guangchengzi roared.

"The feeling is mutual," Gu Ziyuan's response remained calm.

"When you carried the Saint's prestige to forcibly seize my Jie Sect's treasure, did you ever consider the phrase 'pushing things too far'?"

He slowly raised his right hand. At some point, a chess piece as black as ink had appeared between his index and middle fingers.

The moment that chess piece appeared, the entire Shanhai Chessboard came to a standstill.

The four stellar chains that had been extracting Guangchengzi's magic power stopped their movements instantly.

But instead of feeling relieved, Guangchengzi was completely submerged by a massive fear originating from the depths of his Soul.

He could feel that all the power from the entire East Sea and the entire chess game—everything previously absorbed from him and the heaven-turning seal—

—was now frantically surging toward the black piece at Gu Ziyuan's fingertips!

That was not a chess piece.

That was judgment!

That was death!

"Daoist brother, you said before that rules are not talked about with the mouth." Gu Ziyuan's gaze finally showed a ripple—a flash of extreme coldness.

"Now, I will teach you how the rules are written."

He looked at Guangchengzi's face, distorted by fear, and seized the moment when the other's mental defenses completely collapsed to play the decisive move.

There was no earth-shattering roar, only a clear syllable that seemed to signal the end of all things.

"Pa."

The black piece fell.

It did not land on any spot on the chessboard, but was aimed directly at Guangchengzi himself!

"This is the endgame, and it is called—"

"Tianyuan Strike!"

The moment the words fell, within the space of the chess game, above Guangchengzi's head...

...a black water sphere, formed from billions of tons of seawater highly compressed and re-compressed by the power of Laws, appeared out of thin air.

The water sphere was only the size of a fist, its surface smooth as a mirror, yet it was so heavy that the surrounding space visibly collapsed.

Even more terrifyingly, within the water sphere, the ancient phantom of a small seal was faintly visible.

The heaven-turning seal!

This strike not only condensed the power of the entire East Sea Great Array but also carried the heaven-turning seal's own suppressive might!

Using his own methods against him!

"No—!"

Guangchengzi let out a shrill scream that didn't sound human. He frantically channeled the remaining Immortal power in his body.

The Jade Purity Immortal Light erupted without reservation, and over a dozen protective Magic Treasures were instantly sacrificed, forming layers of brilliant light barriers in front of him.

However, it was useless.

That black 'water chess piece' ignored space and ignored time.

The moment it appeared, it had already smashed against Guangchengzi's protective Immortal light.

Crack—!

The first layer of the light barrier shattered instantly like thin ice.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Following that were the light barriers formed by the second, third, and tenth Magic Treasures...

Those Spirit Treasures, which were enough to cause countless Immortals to fight over them in the Great Desolation...

...were now as fragile as paper. Unable to stop the black piece for even a moment, they exploded into a sky full of dust one after another!

Finally, the black piece, concentrated with endless power and carrying the aura of the heaven-turning seal that Guangchengzi knew all too well, slammed heavily into his chest.

“Puff—!!!”

Guangchengzi felt as if he had been struck by the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, his body snapping backward into an incredible arc.

The Daoist robe on his body—the Eight Trigrams Purple Silk Immortal Robe personally refined by Yuanshi Tianzun, which was impervious to water and fire and resistant to all spells—turned to ash in an instant.

Golden Immortal blood sprayed wildly from his mouth like a fountain, staining the sea area beneath him red.

His entire being was like a stone being sent flying, hurtling backward for thousands of miles.

Along the way, he smashed through a dozen undersea Peaks that served as 'star positions,' before finally crashing heavily into a reef, pulverizing the reef cluster that stretched for a hundred miles.

A deathly silence fell over heaven and earth.

With the conclusion of this strike, the ten-thousand-mile starry sky chessboard began to slowly dissipate.

The crisscrossing lines of Law faded away, the black and white seawater merged once more, and the surging waves reappeared.

It was as if the world-destroying scene from moments ago had never happened.

Only the sea surface stained red with blood and the figure drifting in the distant water—breath so weak it was almost imperceptible—proved that it was all real.

Inside the treasury.

Ao Guang had completely collapsed to the ground, his massive dragon body shaking like a sieve, not even having the courage to look up.

Qiong Xiao and Bixiao, the two sisters, had their mouths hanging open in an 'O' shape, their beautiful eyes wide with shock, their minds completely blank.

He won?

Just like that... he won?

That was Guangchengzi! The first Disciple of the Chan Sect, wielder of the heaven-turning seal, a god of slaughter with a terrifying reputation!

He was actually... beaten into a dying dog by Junior Brother Gu with a single move?

"Gulp."

Bixiao swallowed hard, her gaze toward Gu Ziyuan...

...had shifted from the initial anger and curiosity to a state of... awe.

Just how many secrets was this man hiding?

Yunxiao's reaction was the calmest, but her hand tightly gripping the hunyuan golden bucket, with knuckles turning white, betrayed her inner turmoil.

She stared fixedly at the white-robed figure slowly descending from the sky, with only one thought in her mind.

The Jie Sect is about to produce a true Dragon!

Gu Ziyuan took a single step, crossing a distance of a thousand miles to appear before the heavily injured and dying Guangchengzi.

At this moment, Guangchengzi was in a wretched state.

His Physical Body was nearly shattered, with deep, bone-exposing wounds all over.

His Primordial Spirit was withered, and his aura had plummeted from the Taiyi Golden Immortal Realm to the Profound Immortal Realm, and it was still falling.

His Dao Heart was completely shattered.

He had lost.

He lost inexplicably, lost utterly.

Even on the verge of death, he couldn't understand how a mere Heavenly Immortal could achieve all this.

"You... you..." Guangchengzi struggled to lift his head, looking at that face so close by—still calm and composed—with only endless fear remaining in his eyes.

Gu Ziyuan ignored his struggles. A black light flashed in his hand as a black chess piece, condensed purely from the Law of Slaughter...

...floated in his palm, aimed at the center of Guangchengzi's brow.

He looked at Guangchengzi, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion.

"Those who insult my Jie Sect shall be executed!"

A chilling killing intent, like a cold wind from the Nine Netherworlds, instantly enveloped Guangchengzi.

Guangchengzi trembled all over, the shadow of death causing his final survival instinct to erupt.

He used all his strength to roar hoarsely, "You dare kill me?!"

"My Revered Master is... Yuanshi Tianzun!!"

The name of the Saint was roared from his mouth, carrying a hint of final hope and threat.

However, Gu Ziyuan's expression did not change in the slightest.

He merely looked at Guangchengzi as if looking at a dead man and slowly raised his hand.

The black slaughter piece in his palm shone with a brilliant light.