Chapter 69 The Final Round, Dao Heart Perfected

Three Auras came from the deepest depths of Chaos, faint yet clear.

Yunxiao's Aura was the steadiest, yet within that stability lay a hint of disorder that shouldn't be there.

Bixiao's Aura surged violently, like an uncontrollable fire. Qiong Xiao's was the weakest, showing faint signs of exhaustion.

Chen Yuan stood up abruptly.

A finger tapped his shoulder; the force wasn't great, yet it felt like a mountain pressing down, pinning him back onto the futon.

"I told you, if you go out now, you still won't be able to defeat that person from the Chan Sect."

Chess Ancestor's voice was flat, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Taiyi Golden Immortal Middle Stage? He is a Grand Unity Golden Immortal. There is an entire Major Realm between you. What do you have to fight him with?"

Chen Yuan said in a low voice, "This Junior has the Shanhai Chessboard. After Drawing a Circle to Imprison, my cultivation within the formation can be raised to—"

Halfway through, he stopped himself.

Chess Ancestor smiled. "Raise it by a minor Realm? Taiyi Late Stage? You still won't beat a Grand Unity."

Chen Yuan clenched his fists.

He knew this was the truth.

The gap between Grand Unity and Taiyi wasn't a matter of quantity, but a leap in quality.

Magic power, Divine Abilities, and Law mastery—it was a total suppression. Fighting head-on was suicide.

But those three Auras were still fluctuating.

Becoming increasingly chaotic.

"There is one way."

Chess Ancestor held up a finger.

"I have taught you chess for so long; it's time you repaid me."

He pushed the chess jar forward.

"Play one last game with me. If you can make me use thirty percent of my true strength, I will give you a great gift. It will be enough for you to deal with that Junior when you return."

Chen Yuan was stunned.

Thirty percent of his true strength?

He recalled the hundreds of matches they had played before.

Winning an occasional game, he had thought he was making progress.

He had thought those wins and losses were real clashes.

It turned out that in Chess Ancestor's eyes, he didn't even have the qualification to make his opponent take him seriously.

A chill ran down his spine.

But he did not hesitate.

He sat down and took the black pieces.

"Please."

A black stone landed on the star point.

This move had not been calculated.

He didn't deduce the next seven or eight variations. He didn't deliberately choose any style.

He simply placed it.

Like breathing.

A white stone followed.

Chess Ancestor's technique was as casual as ever, his fingertips twirling the piece for half a turn before setting it down.

The tenth move.

Chen Yuan's layout unfolded.

It wasn't the airtight iron wall from before, nor was it a deliberate, loose style of leaving empty spaces.

Instead, it was an indescribable balance between the two—tightness within looseness, softness within strength.

Not every piece was in the best position, but every piece was in the right position.

The twentieth move.

Chess Ancestor's rhythm of placing pieces remained unchanged.

The thirtieth move.

It changed.

The old man's brow furrowed slightly.

Chen Yuan saw this expression.

In hundreds of matches, Chess Ancestor had never frowned.

No matter what moves he made, the old man's face always held that same indifference that saw through everything.

Now, he was frowning.

This subtle change steadied Chen Yuan's heart.

He didn't become excited because of it, nor did he become nervous.

He continued to place pieces.

The fortieth move. The Yin and Yang Qi on the board began to surge. The black and white cyclones no longer flowed gently but instead twisted and collided with each other.

The fiftieth move.

When the old man placed a piece, his finger showed a moment of hesitation.

A single moment.

But Chen Yuan captured it.

Chess Ancestor had hesitated.

The space of Chaos trembled slightly, shaken by the Qi overflowing from the board.

Chen Yuan's Great Dao Golden Wheel rotated on its own, pressing down the surging magic power within his body until it was steady.

The Shangqing Immortal Arts flowed slowly through his Meridians, without a hint of restlessness.

The sixtieth move. After the old man placed a white stone, he tapped his knee twice.

Chen Yuan had seen this gesture before.

It only appeared when Chess Ancestor truly cared about something.

The seventieth move.

The seventy-first move.

The seventy-second move.

The situation on the board had reached the Peak of complexity.

Black and white intertwined, Qi entangled; every single spot affected the whole.

Chen Yuan picked up the seventy-third black stone.

His hand hovered over the board.

He didn't calculate.

Nor did he deliberately avoid calculating.

His mind was very quiet.

His computational power from his past life, his intuition from this life, the insights accumulated over a hundred matches, and his fused Dao Heart—all of it settled into this single black stone at his fingertips.

He placed it.

Precise and impartial.

That position wasn't the most ingenious, nor the most aggressive, and it wasn't even the optimal solution according to calculations.

But it was the only position.

Like the final puzzle piece clicking into a picture, like a mountain stream flowing into a great river, like a seed finding the very inch of soil where it was meant to take root.

The moment the black stone landed, the Qi pattern of the entire board underwent a fundamental change.

The Yin and Yang Qi no longer collided.

They fused.

Chess Ancestor looked up.

Those eyes, so ancient their age was indiscernible, stared straight at Chen Yuan.

Then, he smiled.

It wasn't the faint, almost non-existent smile from before.

It was a great laugh directed at the heavens. The laughter exploded within the Chaos, making the Void Realm tremble.

"What a move! The Dao Follows Nature!"

The old man slapped his knee and stood up.

"Three thousand eon! I have finally waited for a Junior who can make me take things seriously!"

At this moment, his Aura was released without reservation.

It wasn't magic power. It wasn't pressure.

It was dao rhyme.

The dao rhyme of the Ancestor of the Way of Chess.

Chaos solidified.

All was silent.

That Aura was ancient beyond imagination, as if the first wisp of order at the dawn of the world had been derived from this dao rhyme.

Chen Yuan froze.

It wasn't fear.

It was a reverence that came from the very bones of a Way of Chess cultivator.

Chess Ancestor extended a finger and tapped the center of his brow.

Power surged in.

It wasn't an infusion of magic power. It was a gift of the Dao.

Chess Ancestor took a wisp of his own insights into the Way of Chess, refined it to its purest form, and planted it deep within Chen Yuan's Primordial Spirit.

The Great Dao Golden Wheel buzzed and erupted.

The Embryonic Golden Wheel spun wildly under the stimulation of the dao rhyme, and the blurry patterns on its surface began to emerge clearly, one by one.

Catalyzed by the dao rhyme, the Shangqing Immortal Arts crashed through the barriers within his Meridians.

Taiyi Golden Immortal Middle Stage.

Late Stage.

Peak.

Three Bottlenecks shattered in succession, and his magic power surged like a massive tide.

At the same time, the Wuwei Sutra operated automatically, suppressing this earth-shaking Breakthrough Aura so perfectly that not a drop leaked out.

The outside world could not perceive even a single fluctuation.

But Chen Yuan knew that he was no longer the same person as before.

He opened his eyes.

A golden light flashed and vanished within his eyes.

The unprecedentedly abundant power within his body flowed slowly through his Meridians, steady and heavy.

He was only one step away from becoming a Grand Unity Golden Immortal.

Chen Yuan rose and bowed deeply to Chess Ancestor, bending his waist to the limit.

"Senior's great kindness is something Ziyuan will never forget."

Chess Ancestor waved his hand. "Enough chatter. Those girls of yours are about to reach their limit. Go."

He gave a casual push.

A crack opened in the space of Chaos.

On the other side of the crack was the imitation taiji diagram space set up by Chi Jingzi.

Chen Yuan turned and stepped forward.

"Remember—"

Chess Ancestor's voice came from behind, carrying a rare trace of solemnity.

"The end of the Way of Chess is not to calculate everything in the world, nor is it to follow the path of Heaven."

"It is to hold the piece without regret, and to place the stone with emotion."

He paused for a breath.

"Next time you come to play chess with me, don't lose quite so pathetically."

Chen Yuan's footsteps paused. The corner of his mouth quirked up slightly, but he did not look back.

He took a step out.

Chaos shattered.

His Divine Soul, carrying the vast magic power of a Taiyi Peak, followed the pull of the Lotus Seal on his chest and fell straight down.

Millions of miles of Chaos receded rapidly before his eyes.

Those three familiar Auras grew closer and clearer.

Yunxiao. Bixiao. Qiong Xiao.

Wait for me.

I am back.