559: Chapter 559 The outcome of a game of chess may not necessarily be on the chessboard.

"Ma Hao!"

Zhou Yan shouted and instead charged toward Ma Hao. At this moment, Ma Hao's time reversal had ended, and his Aura diminished once more.

Just as he recovered, Feng Xu's massive face loomed right in front of him.

But Ma Hao remained calm, merely letting out a cold snort.

The two collided amidst crushed ice and snow foam, the resulting shockwave shaving off three feet of the ice layer beneath their feet.

Without pause, Zhou Yan burst through the dust of the impact and slammed a punch into the ice surface.

The ice layer vibrated like a drumhead, cracks surging in all directions. Each crack chased after Ma Hao's landing spot, releasing lethal air currents from within the fissures.

Ma Hao stepped into the air before the cracks could surround him. The frigid air gathered beneath his feet to form platforms, and he dove down like a surfer amidst the air currents emerging from the cracks, pressing a single palm toward the top of Zhou Yan's head.

Before the palm even arrived, the ice surface around Zhou Yan sank into a pit.

Zhou Yan neither parried nor blocked. He clapped his palms together, and the wind in the air converged like invisible giant palms coming together in prayer.

This wasn't simple wind, but an immense explosive force generated by two opposite directions colliding at extreme speeds.

Ma Hao's pace was slowed down, but he ultimately unleashed another Move. A small dagger appeared in his hand. With two empty slashes, the two winds that were about to converge were sliced apart as smoothly as silk by a knife, dividing into four parts.

The originally repelling directions also transformed into a crossroads after the collision extended, changing the mutually exclusive left and right directions into the same forward and backward directions, accelerating simultaneously.

Ma Hao took this opportunity to step onto the forward-accelerating path. The risk of being crushed was turned into a means to help him accelerate.

He swung the dagger, intending to finish Zhou Yan.

A drop of cold sweat slid down Zhou Yan's forehead, and he forced a strained smile.

"You old fellow, how do you have everything?"

Unlike a longsword that would imprison the flow of directions and gather a vacuum zone like a black hole, this dagger simply segmented the directions, preventing the wind's original fluidity from coming into play.

The wound caused by that eerie arrow, the slash on his waist, and now this dagger—using a total of three Magic Treasures, he had neutralized all of Feng Xu's threats.

Ma Hao also spoke his first words since the battlefield began.

"If you want to compare your understanding of Teacher with mine, you're still far too inferior."

"You are nothing but a mortal relying on Teacher's silhouette; you can't bring out even half of Teacher's true power!"

Zhou Yan looked disdainful.

"When you were being utterly crushed by me while playing with the silhouette, why weren't you shouting then?"

"Oh, and now that you've used a whole bunch of things to target me, you say I can't bring out the power."

"If you're so capable, don't let me snatch it away!"

Ma Hao did not respond but instead quickened his movements.

Just as Zhou Yan thought Ma Hao would use the dagger to fight head-on, Ma Hao suddenly performed a slide on the ice, gliding behind Zhou Yan and sweeping a leg toward his ankle.

The moment Zhou Yan was swept off his feet, his waist twisted in the air, and his elbow slammed down.

Ma Hao blocked the elbow strike, the ice beneath his feet shattering. He used a backhand grip to restrain Zhou Yan, then stabbed down with the dagger.

Before the dagger could fall, Zhou Yan blocked him in turn, using both hands to prevent the dagger from descending.

The two were locked in a stalemate, and the ice surface beneath them began to give way.

Zhou Yan gritted his teeth as he looked at Ma Hao, calculating the time in his heart and revealing a faint smile.

Seeing this, Ma Hao reacted quickly, but Zhou Yan, in an accelerated state, was even faster. Ma Hao was hit by the Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking once again.

Unfortunately, when prepared for the second time, this Move wasn't very effective.

Although Ma Hao's body froze for a moment, he still reacted, freeing a fist to directly blow up his own head, cutting off the Move's influence on his Sea of Consciousness, then quickly reversing time to return to normal.

He used self-mutilation to compress the influence Zhou Yan could have on him to under a second.

Zhou Yan was about to break free, but because of Ma Hao's action, his force hit nothing. Ma Hao seized the opportunity and stabbed the dagger into his heart.

The dagger didn't just pierce in; it had an effect similar to using Dim Dawn to cut through time.

Zhou Yan felt Feng Xu's silhouette being stripped away from his body by this dagger.

Crack!

The moment Feng Xu's silhouette was stripped away, Zhou Yan lost his power, yet relying on his returning skill tree, he decisively turned all the hard ice beneath him into flowing water. The originally vast ice field instantly became an ocean.

"Zhou Yan!"

"It's already over!"

Ma Hao was about to snatch the stripped Feng Xu silhouette when a massive figure began to coalesce in the water.

Far beyond the battlefield, Shi Suiyan and the others were looking at the giant water giant standing on the wilderness in the distance.

That was precisely the Dharma Idol Zhou Yan had formed using the massive water source.

Seeing the Dharma Idol rise, Yuan Chenling was so excited he almost jumped up, but Shi Suiyan clenched her hands, looking toward the distance with a worried expression.

Zhou Yan hadn't been in the Soul Transformation stage for long. Although his Law of the Heart had grown very rapidly for various reasons, it was difficult for the Law of the Heart to manifest a Dharma Idol.

To instantly manifest a Dharma Idol during battle required environmental support. This was why Zhou Yan had specifically asked Shi Suiyan to prepare the ice field—so he could instantly manifest the Dharma Idol and crush Ma Hao once more.

It was indeed as planned. Because Ma Hao had not mastered Domains or Dharma Idols, even as a fellow Soul Transformation cultivator, he simply couldn't compete with a Dharma Idol.

His Moves and Magic Treasures might have had great suppression against Feng Xu, but they were useless against this massive Dharma Idol.

Water dragons converged on the Dharma Idol's arms. As the water dragons let out a roar and washed over Ma Hao, Ma Hao died once again.

This was the fourth death.

Ma Hao had been killed three times by Zhou Yan and once by himself.

No matter how much Ma Hao could reverse time, this was likely the last time.

Detecting the disappearance of Ma Hao's presence, Yuan Chenling, Shi Suiyan, and the various researchers all let out a secret sigh of relief.

The researchers' hearts were nearly jumping out of their chests. They had originally thought that since the great experts had entered the black curtain, nothing would happen outside. But who could have imagined that this unremarkable person from the Taiyi Sect was the true powerhouse?

The suddenly attacking enemy was also terrifyingly powerful. Heaven knows how shocked they were when their instruments detected various waves attacking, and one of the life signatures even died repeatedly.

Fortunately, it seemed everything was over now.

But unlike the others, Zhou Yan's true body, still on the battlefield, was prepared.

Whoosh!

A beam of light shot out from the Dream City at extreme speed, instantly evaporating the Dharma Idol formed from the water flow.

Zhou Yan's health bar was instantly emptied, triggering Not Falling into the Yellow Springs. Immediately after, his second health bar also burned rapidly, and Zhou Yan had to use Dragon Transformation to continue resisting.

Fortunately, the beam didn't last long. When Zhou Yan landed on the ground again, his Dragon Transformation form still had a third of its health remaining.

A pale-faced Ma Hao retracted the fishhook in his hand. The moment the beam blasted open the Dharma Idol, he had locked onto the Feng Xu silhouette wrapped within it and hooked it into his hand.

Looking at the dragon-man Zhou Yan who landed on the ground with almost no injuries, Ma Hao rarely took the initiative to speak.

"You're actually fine? And this appearance... the Dragon Clan?"

Ma Hao seemed very surprised that Zhou Yan could still stand. However, Zhou Yan knew that while he had tried everything to take out four of the opponent's lives, the opponent had used a cheat to take out more than two of his health bars, nearly sending him away.

If he still had Feng Xu's silhouette, he might have relied on Feng Xu's time-system skills for an extra health bar of margin for error, but if he took another hit now, it would be game over.

No, he had to stall for a bit more time.

"Ma Hao, do you think you've won just like that?"

Looking at Zhou Yan in such a state, Ma Hao instinctively took out his bow and arrows, his gaze always averted to avoid direct eye contact with Zhou Yan.

"Ma Hao, you didn't know I like playing chess... Ah, this."

Seeing Ma Hao decisively pull out a Magic Treasure emitting spatial fluctuations and stare at him with vigilance, Zhou Yan knew that information about that chessboard had also been exposed.

But how?

He hadn't even used it a few times!

However, as if sensing something, the corners of Zhou Yan's mouth curled up further. He spread his hands and said,

"Why are you so nervous? I just wanted to tell you that winning a game of chess isn't always about what's on the board; it can also be about what's outside the board."

Ma Hao merely let out another cold snort.

"Words are useless. Either come with me to witness the descent of the new era,"

"Or die!"

Ma Hao already had the authority to control the Apocalypse Knight. He wasn't the type to have a 'warrior spirit' and give up using such a weapon for the sake of fairness.

Zhou Yan was indeed helpful to his experiment, but the period of maximum helpfulness had passed. Even if he still had great value, he was not indispensable.

Ma Hao hadn't acted directly before only because he feared the Apocalypse Knight would destroy Feng Xu's silhouette along with Zhou Yan. Now that the silhouette was in his hands, Zhou Yan's life or death was no longer important.

But coincidentally, there was another who didn't care about Zhou Yan's life or death.

A rift suddenly sliced open in the sky above, and a fierce, giant white claw carrying infinite killing intent lunged toward Zhou Yan.

At the last moment, Zhou Yan activated the acceleration from the suihua heavenly record, rushed in front of Ma Hao, and grabbed him in a hug.

"This Move... this Move is called 'Perishing Together with Heaven and Earth'."

Under the horrified gazes of Shi Suiyan and Yuan Chenling, everywhere the giant white claw passed was completely erased like an eraser over pencil marks. And the giant claw's final target was precisely the direction where Zhou Yan and the other were.

"Great—Universal—Wind!"