الشطرنج الخالد - Book 05 Chapter 190

After Gu Hai stepped into the Manifold Deity Palace, Lu Ya followed behind. However, before he entered, he extended his hand and clenched it.

The Manifold Deity Palace trembled slightly.

“Let’s go, then!” Lu Ya revealed a faint smile.

Bing Ji did not understand what happened as she followed Lu Ya in.

When the two entered, they appeared at the entrance of a huge palace hall that was also called the Manifold Deity Palace.

However, there was no longer a city outside it but a vast sun.

“An independent world?” Bing Ji felt slightly startled.

In the next moment, Bing Ji’s expression changed as she asked, “Where’s His Majesty? Lu Ya, where is His Majesty?”

“Gu Hai was sent to the loach’s side when he entered this world. However, don’t worry. He is still alive!” Lu Ya said with a cold smile.

“You…you did that on purpose, right?” Bing Ji glared.

Lu Ya revealed a faint, cold smile and said, “Indeed, I did that on purpose. Gu Hai is here now. Don’t you care for him? The longer he stays in this world, the lower his chances of survival. You can rescue him only by working with me and defeating the loach.”

“You!” Bing Ji glared.

“This is the star that I refined. If you want to rescue Gu Hai, you have to lend me the power of the frost crow, allow me to become the three-legged Yinyang crow and gain the power of the primal chaos, then kill the animal spirits with me and help me plunder their deities. When I can kill the loach, nothing in this world can stop me!” Lu Ya said coldly.

“Humph!” Bing Ji glared.

——

Below, on the ground:

Gu Hai retracted his mortal soul and returned to the size of an ordinary person. Then, he went with the other humans to their tribe.

The dwellings of the tribe were very rudimentary; most were caves. As this was a world of animal spirit deities, the humans had to hide to survive.

Many humans gathered in the caves.

The leader was a white-haired old man.

“Senior, just address me as Old Wu. Your mortal soul is one hundred sixty-three meters tall? Senior must be an incredible person in the Divine Continent,” the white-haired Old Wu said respectfully.

“It was just due to coincidences. However, I am currently in a difficult situation. Might I ask if Mister Old Wu has a way out?” Gu Hai asked.

“There is no way to go out. The Great Loach Deity, which is one kilometer tall and possesses great power, rules our land. We do not even dare to show ourselves outside,” Old Wu sighed.

“Have you heard of Lu Ya?” Gu Hai asked.

“Great Deity Lu Ya? Of course, I have heard of him. Senior, do you see the sun in the sky? Great Deity Lu Ya brought it here. That is Great Deity Lu Ya’s abode, the Manifold Deity Palace,” Old Wu explained.

“Oh? The sun?” Gu Hai felt slightly startled.

“Lu Ya appeared eighty thousand years ago. He is extremely strong. The moment he appeared, he killed without pause, plundering the Divine Energy of the animal spirit deities and also countless animal spirit techniques. He is one of the rare experts in this world. He only stopped killing when he ran into the Great Loach Deity,” Old Wu explained.

“Oh? Animal spirit techniques?” Gu Hai felt slightly startled.

“The animal spirit deity that Senior ran into today is actually an animal spirit deity of the lowest level. Those only have small amounts of Divine Energy and rely on the strength of their physical bodies. There are too many animal spirit deities here. The strong animal spirit deities do not even need to know your location to kill you. We humans have done our best to nurture some powerful war deities. However, they ended up dying to animal spirit techniques after they showed themselves. One such technique is called the Head-Nailing Seven Arrows Manual. It is bizarre,” Old Wu recalled.

“The Head-Nailing Seven Arrows Manual?” Gu Hai said in surprise.

“Yes. It was a spirit formed by an embroidery needle that manifested a deity. When the Head-Nailing Seven Arrows Manual appeared, countless of our war deities died. That animal spirit deity was one hundred sixty-seven meters tall and possessed boundless Divine Energy and a strong body. It used its Divine Energy to power its animal spirit technique. Whoever it bowed to would die. It used to be the Great Loach Deity’s loyal subordinate, but Great Deity Lu Ya killed it. Later on, Great Deity Lu Ya refined its body and gained the Head-Nailing Seven Arrows Manual’s animal spirit technique,” Old Wu explained.

“One hundred sixty-seven meters tall? The larger the animal spirit deity’s body, the stronger they are?” Gu Hai asked.

“That is usually the case for animal spirit deities. However, we humans have no way to compete with them in size. We can only try to use our Soul Energy to compete. Unfortunately, it is too difficult to strengthen our Soul Energy,” Old Wu explained.

“Strengthen our Soul Energy?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes slightly.

Old Wu nodded. “The humans here only have ten-meter-tall soul bodies at most. The Soul Energy we can store is limited. Senior, your soul body is so big. You will be able to store much more Soul Energy after a few thousand years. You can compete with ordinary animal spirit deities then.”

As the two chatted, startled cries came from outside the cave. “Quick, look! Great Deity Lu Ya is back!”

Gu Hai quickly walked out of the cave.

The somewhat dim sun in the sky suddenly shone with bright golden light, becoming dazzling.

Caw!

A crow’s call came from the sun.

“Lu Ya is out of closed-door cultivation. Is he declaring war? Roar!”

Suddenly, the roars of various powerful animal spirit deities rang out in the surroundings.

Then, many animal spirit deities charged into the sky, rushing towards the sun.

Boom!

A beam of light shot out from the sun, revealing the figure of a three-legged golden crow three hundred thirty-three meters tall. By its head was a ball of white light containing a white three-legged frost crow.

“Bing Ji?” Gu Hai appeared somewhat worried.

“Roar! Roar! Roar!”

Countless animal spirit deities charged out.

“Treasure, please!” Lu Ya, the three-legged golden crow, roared.

“Be careful of his Immortal Slaying Flying Saber!”

“Scatter! His Immortal Slaying Flying Saber will not return without a head! Scatter!”

“Liquid-type spirit deities, attack! You have no heads. Attack!”

“Wood-type spirit deities, you won’t die from losing a head. Attack as well!”

Many animal spirit deities immediately soared into the sky. At this moment, Lu Ya opened his mouth, and three calabashes appeared: the Immortal Slaying Calabash, the Vine World Calabash, and the True Flame Calabash.

Shing! Many flying sabers came from the Immortal Slaying Calabash.

Boom! A vast amount of Samādhi True Flame erupted from the True Flame Calabash.

Whoosh! Millions of vines suddenly shot out of the Vine World Calabash.

“My calabashes?” Gu Hai narrowed his eyes.

Then, he saw the many animal spirit deities in the sky suffer from the destructive attacks.

When Lu Ya activated the three calabashes, they displayed significantly more power than when Gu Hai did.

Overwhelming flames burned all the wood-type and liquid-type spirit deities. The Vine World Calabash’s vines immediately bound the animal spirit deities that got through the Samādhi True Flame. The stronger ones managed to break the vines, but the Immortal Slaying Calabash took their heads.

The three-legged golden crow opened its mouth and sucked, immediately absorbing the deities hovering over the dead animal spirit deities. The golden crow’s body grew larger, giving off even more intense heat.

“Lu Ya, you got new treasures? To think that you dare to cause trouble in my territory?” A sinister voice suddenly rang out.

A one-kilometer-tall loach suddenly soared into the sky, breaking past the Samādhi True Flame, the vines, and the Immortal Slaying Flying Sabers to arrive before Lu Ya.

Lu Ya was only three hundred thirty-three meters tall.

That loach spirit deity opened its mouth and spat out a black hole at Lu Ya.

“Old loach, it is different this time!” the three-legged golden crow shouted coldly as it swiped a claw.

Boom!

The black hole suddenly wrapped around the three-legged golden crow’s giant claw.

“You are just a defeated enemy. My black hole shredded your claw once. Has it recovered already?” the loach spirit deity sneered.

Rumble…!

Indeed, Lu Ya’s claw seemed like it could not last much longer.

“Bing Ji, it’s up to you now. Don’t worry. You won’t die!” Lu Ya said ferociously.

Caw! Lu Ya cried out and opened its mouth.

The white frost crow on Lu Ya’s head hesitated for a while.

“Lu Ya, if I die, let His Majesty go!” the white three-legged frost crow said.

“Sure!” Lu Ya said.

Caw! Lu Ya opened its mouth wider.

Whoosh!

The white three-legged frost crow immediately flew into the three-legged golden crow’s mouth, appearing to be consumed.

“Bing Ji!” Gu Hai cried out, his expression changing dramatically.

Eaten? Lu Ya ate Bing Ji?

“Unleash your frost-attributed energy. Use the Great Yinyang Mutually Complementing Technique!” Lu Ya shouted.

Buzz!

Suddenly, the flames on the three-legged golden crow flared. The three-legged golden crow instantly grew to one kilometer tall as well. However, most of it was ethereal, just an effect created by the flame.

Boom!

The golden crow swiped its claw, and the black hole around the claw exploded.

“What?” The loach spirit deity’s expression changed abruptly.

Now, both the loach spirit deity and the three-legged golden crow were one kilometer tall. The two animal spirit deities immediately clashed.

Rumble…!

The world turned dark, and an energy storm surrounded the two experts. This energy swept out, shaking the ground and preventing anyone from clearly seeing the events within.

“Lu Ya ate Bing Ji?” Gu Hai suddenly showed a ferocious expression.

However, Gu Hai did not have the ability to interfere with the battle in the sky.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The battle stopped only after a day and a night. Lu Ya could not do anything to the loach spirit deity, so he fled into the sky.

“Hahahaha! Old loach, how about it? You can’t do anything to me, right? I consumed three hundred sixty-eight deities earlier. Wait until I’ve refined these deities. Your death is imminent! Hahahaha!” the golden crow guffawed as it flew into the sun above.

The loach spirit deity showed a cold expression as it looked into the sky. “You might have consumed those deities. However, their will is not that easy to refine. If you forcibly refine them, you will go crazy. Trying to become stronger? It is too early for you!”

“Isn’t that the same for you? Let’s see who is faster. I have the Great Yinyang Mutually Complementing Technique now. You won’t be as fast as me! Just wait for your death! Hahahahaha!” Lu Ya’s guffaw came from the sun.

“Roar!” the loach spirit deity roared furiously.

The loach spirit deity suddenly opened its mouth and sucked, pulling over four hundred large animal spirit deities from far away.

“Great Loach Deity, spare me! Spare me!” the four hundred animal spirit deities cried out.

The Great Loach Deity spat out a black hole, which shredded the four hundred animal spirit deities. When the animal spirit deities died, it consumed their deities.

“Humph!” the Great Loach Deity snorted coldly and entered the mountain range, disappearing.

The world suddenly recovered its peace.

“Great Deity Lu Ya has become so strong already?” Old Wu said in horror.

“Lu Ya can consume only three hundred-odd deities each time?” Gu Hai frowned slightly.

Old Wu looked at Gu Hai with surprise. “Indeed. This much is already a miracle. Previously, he could only consume thirty-odd. He…he has become stronger!”

“Wait. The Great Loach Deity is so strong. He can consume however many deities he wants. Why did he consume only four hundred? This should be the same for Lu Ya. Why did he consume only three hundred-odd?” Gu Hai asked, feeling bewildered.

“Senior, you don’t know? Oh! That’s right! You just arrived. Refining another deity sounds easy. However, every deity has its own will. It is easy to consume the divine nature, but it is extremely difficult to wear down the will of the various deities. If one met with a powerful deity and failed in the absorption, one’s will might end up subverted by the other party. Then, one would no longer be oneself. The more deities, the more wills. It would not be easy to destroy them. The strongest war deities of our human race can refine only one of the weakest deities at a time. Some have even failed and gone crazy,” Old Wu said worriedly.

Gu Hai narrowed his eyes, immediately remembering the Asura Path Secret Realm. Back then, one could kill asuras and obtain their Soul Energy. However, one would have to refine that asura’s will as well. Back then, they stopped every three months and used the Classic of the Dao and Virtue to refine the wills. Otherwise, they would have gone berserk and become pure killing machines.

It is the same when consuming deities?

It needs to be digested? It is difficult to digest?

The Six Paths Immortal wants this deity too? That’s why he made all the animal spirit deities in the Animal Path Secret Realm kill each other to create one strongest animal spirit deity. Then, he only needs to consume that animal spirit deity’s deity so that he needs to refine only one will?

While others need time to digest the wills of the various deities, I don’t think I do. I have the Life Ender Saber.

Gu Hai suddenly narrowed his eyes. When killing a deity, the Life Ender Saber can absorb its Divine Energy and automatically refine it. Then, it sends one-thousandth of the refined energy to me?

Where did the Life Ender Saber come from?

“Old Wu, I have a favor to ask,” Gu Hai said.

“Ah? Senior, please speak!”

“I need animal spirit deities. I need countless animal spirit deities. Can I trouble you to contact all the humans to lure the animal spirit deities over for me to kill? I want to grow stronger. I want to grow stronger than Lu Ya and the Great Loach Deity before they clash again!” A ferocious glint flashed in Gu Hai’s eyes.

“Ah?” Old Wu said in shock.