419: Chapter 419 Chessboard Maze, Terrifying Giant Ape!

Just as Li Fan was silently complaining in his heart,

he had already descended steadily into the chessboard.

And the moment Li Fan landed, the chessboard instantly erupted with a terrifying radiance.

The next second,

the chessboard transformed into an incredibly complex maze. Looking up at the sky, he could only see a vast emptiness.

"What's going on here? Has the enlightenment already begun?"

Li Fan had no time to dwell on his unintentional offense towards Venerable Jiu Lu. The changes here now captured his full attention, his face etched with seriousness.

And immediately after,

a terrifying beast's roar resounded.

Li Fan's gaze snapped toward the passage behind him.

"ROAR!"

He saw a ferocious giant ape, over a dozen meters tall with a gaping, bloody maw, pouncing towards him.

Li Fan instinctively dodged, yet somehow he ended up colliding directly with the giant ape's sharp claws.

Fortunately, Li Fan's physical body was quite resilient; this blow didn't cause him significant harm.

However, Li Fan's expression had already drastically changed.

"Something's wrong! What's happening?"

Based on his incredibly rich combat experience, he clearly should have been able to dodge that.

So how did he end up running right into the giant ape's claws?

"Movement technique? Could it be that this giant ape is the key to comprehending that Movement Technique Secret Art?"

Li Fan immediately thought of the secret method Venerable Jiu Lu had mentioned.

If he could grasp even a hint of the secret method here, would he be able to dodge effortlessly?

But Li Fan was clearly overthinking it.

Just as Li Fan was pondering,

from the other passages, a dozen more giant ape figures suddenly appeared. Some wielded great sabers, some held long spears, and some pinched a fiery lotus, preparing to launch fireballs at him.

Seeing this, Li Fan felt a shiver run down his spine.

Because the auras of these giant apes far exceeded what he could resist.

*Thump!*

*Thump!*

*Thump!*

Li Fan twisted his body and immediately fled towards the direction without any giant apes.

Given the current situation, he had no time to think; escape was his only option!

However, the giant apes behind him were also incredibly fast, relentlessly pursuing him.

No matter how Li Fan twisted and turned in his flight, he couldn't shake them off.

Moreover, the more paths Li Fan traversed within the maze, the more giant apes appeared.

At first, fewer than twenty giant apes were chasing Li Fan.

But now, the number of giant apes chasing him had reached over a hundred!

Li Fan swore.

This was absolutely the most frustrating experience of his life!

"Damn it! To comprehend a secret art, you at least need to give a person time to comprehend!"

"Can't stop for even a moment, how am I supposed to comprehend anything?"

While fleeing, Li Fan couldn't help but mutter softly under his breath.

If not for considering that a Universe Venerable might be watching his movements from the outside world,

his Annihilation Eye would definitely have beaten all these giant apes into pulp!

Meanwhile, outside the chessboard in the external world,

Venerable Jiu Lu was indeed observing Li Fan's movements.

However, the scene Venerable Jiu Lu saw was different from Li Fan's.

What Li Fan saw was a maze and giant apes.

The scene before Venerable Jiu Lu's eyes was still the chessboard.

Only,

Li Fan himself had now transformed into a tiny, sand-like figure, constantly fleeing and scurrying along the various lines of the chessboard.

As for the giant apes, in Venerable Jiu Lu's eyes, they were merely threads imbued with laws.

"This little fellow is quite interesting."

"Wine Lu? It's been a long time since I've heard anyone dare to call me that!"

Venerable Jiu Lu took a sip of wine at this moment, unable to hold back a hearty laugh.

Clearly, he didn't feel offended by Li Fan's earlier conversation with him. Instead, he found it quite amusing, and his mood had improved considerably.

Then, his gaze turned towards Li Fan on the chessboard, a hint of anticipation rising on his face.

"The Movement Technique Secret Art within this Great Luo Chessboard has never been comprehended by anyone to this day. Perhaps because it's incomplete, or perhaps because it might be a hoax."

"But regardless, staying here for a while yields immense improvement in movement techniques. It just depends on how much you can improve."

That's right.

Regarding that universe-top-tier Movement Technique Secret Art within the great luo celestial disk, he had never actually seen anyone truly comprehend it; it had always been more of a legendary rumor.

Therefore, he didn't expect Li Fan to comprehend anything significant.

The reason he told Li Fan about it was simply to dangle a carrot, to make Li Fan focus more intently on the chessboard's content.

Having said that,

Venerable Jiu Lu let out a big yawn, found a seemingly soft patch of grass nearby to lie down on, and began to doze off.

...

Elsewhere.

At this moment, on the core star within the leadership district of the Cosmic Cloud Company Headquarters,

"The great luo celestial disk has been activated?"

"Hmm, it should be that Wine Lu fellow finding another promising seedling and putting them in for a try."

"That guy is really stubborn! Even when the great luo celestial disk was complete, no one was ever heard to have comprehended its secret method. Now, with only a fragmentary corner of the chessboard, how could anyone possibly comprehend it?"

"Wine Lu likely knows this. He's probably just using it to temper the movement techniques of an outstanding junior. He's done this before. Whether the chessboard contains a secret method or not, it does indeed have the effect of improving one's movement techniques, though it requires a certain level of comprehension ability."

"Hmm, having been stubborn for so many years, Wine Lu couldn't possibly be unaware of this."

"If that's the case, this junior must be quite decent to have caught that guy Wine Lu's eye."

At this moment, voices of conversation slowly arose.

These voices all came from the core members of the Cosmic Cloud Company.

Each one of them possessed strength no weaker than that Venerable Jiu Lu!

As their conversation deepened,

most of them had already guessed Venerable Jiu Lu's intentions.

Now, they all secretly used their spiritual senses to curiously probe Li Fan's situation.

In truth, given their status,

even if some earth-shattering genius appeared in the talent training district, they generally wouldn't bother to look.

There's no helping it. No matter how strong the talent, if they don't grow, it's all for nothing.

The reason they probed Li Fan was purely because of Venerable Jiu Lu.

And with this probing,

the evaluation from these core figures was uniformly just a "not bad," without showing excessive surprise.

Then, silence fell once more. The voices ceased, and they paid no further attention to Li Fan's situation.

Clearly,

in their eyes, Li Fan was indeed not bad, but that was about it—just not bad.

As for Li Fan's side,

Li Fan was completely unaware that these great figures had already seen through him.

At present, Li Fan was still fleeing frantically.

In this short span of less than half a day of fleeing,

the number of giant apes chasing Li Fan had reached three to four hundred!

Li Fan dashed through every corner of the maze. Sometimes, he couldn't even find a single passage not blocked by giant apes.

In the end, he could only take a desperate risk, choosing a passage with a weaker concentration of giant apes, twisting, dodging, and maneuvering under their legs to pass through.

As for the so-called Movement Technique Secret Art,

exhausted from his desperate flight, Li Fan still had no clue whatsoever.