Chapter 429: Entering Sainthood Through Chess, Yanluo Displayed

"The Way of the Spear, could it be Saint Lin?"

"Is that… the Source True Meaning of the Spear Way?"

The sudden eruption of powerful spear intent caused everyone on the cushions to open their eyes, looking over in astonishment.

Even with the Dao Domain shrouding them, isolating some external disturbances, this spear intent, directly reaching the Source True Meaning, still transcended the Dao Domain's barrier. It startled even those who were completely immersed in their insights, waking them up.

They saw a figure hovering in mid-air above one of the cushions, wielding a pitch-black divine spear, its tip radiating dazzling silver light.

In the void behind him, a towering spear-like form vaguely condensed, giving the feeling that the heavens and earth were joining hands to form a spear.

The spear, the ancestor of all weapons, is invincible!

Everyone felt an eye-piercing sharpness emanating from him, as well as a steadiness like the vast ocean, both domineeringly sharp and yet not frivolous or arrogant.

"He actually condensed the Source True Meaning. I remember he hasn't been here for very long, has he?"

"Saint Lin's talent is also extremely high. When he first arrived, he had a Heaven-grade Dao Heart. He's only been here for ten thousand years."

"To comprehend the Spear Way of the Myriad Battles Immortal Technique to this degree… Elder Wang said that if he becomes a True Immortal, he'll be an elite among his peers, capable of fighting a hundred alone!"

Everyone stared intently at the upright figure of Saint Lin, their expressions complex.

After Saint Mu and Saint Ming, the third person capable of challenging the True Venerable Tower had finally appeared, yet it wasn't any of them. A sense of loneliness and bitterness inevitably arose in their hearts.

Saint Lin appeared as a young man, clad in black, with an extremely cold and handsome appearance. His eyes held unusual double pupils, dark purple and black, and at his birth, auspicious omens descended from the heavens. He was a monstrous prodigy from a young age, but after an accidental fall into this place, he had vanished from the Heavens and Worlds.

At this moment, he slowly opened his eyes, his aura retracting, and the sharp spear intent surrounding him dissipated.

Feeling the gazes focused on him, his expression remained calm, undisturbed. He slowly descended back to the cushion, sheathing the Dao Tribulation Emperor Weapon in his hand.

Then, he glanced towards the distance, seeing the young man in front of the hut, who also turned his head to look over, their eyes meeting.

Saint Lin's gaze was placid. He gave a nearly imperceptible nod, a silent greeting.

His recent enlightenment was somewhat spurred on by the youth's presence. However, the other party seemed to have chosen to take a shortcut.

He could understand, after all, although the other's Dao Heart was extremely high, Dao Heart and cultivation talent were two different things. Coupled with his late arrival, the best way to catch up to others was to take a shortcut.

Unfortunately, that path was a dead end.

"Congratulations, Saint Lin, on stepping into the second stage of trials and becoming able to challenge the True Venerable Tower."

The other Saints nearby offered their congratulations.

Although they felt a sense of urgency in their hearts, they maintained a facade of harmony on the surface.

Saint Lin nodded slightly, then turned his gaze to meet two other pairs of eyes – those of Saint Ming and Saint Mu.

Both of them nodded slightly to Saint Lin, their expressions unreadable. A nod was their greeting and blessing.

Then, they exchanged a glance, retracted their gazes, and continued to sit in meditation, eyes closed.

Saint Lin vaguely sensed that, unlike before, he seemed to have entered these two's field of vision.

A slight smile curved his lips. This, in fact, ignited a surge of ambition within him.

He had cultivated for less time than them, but he felt that he was not incapable of rising from behind and surpassing them.

He turned and walked towards the hut.

In front of the hut, Li Hao had already retracted his gaze, reconnecting his thoughts and once again pondering the spark of insight he had grasped from dismantling the chess game earlier.

Elder Wang, seeing Li Hao still absorbed in studying the chessboard, couldn't help but chuckle softly. He didn't disturb Li Hao, but instead smiled gently at Saint Lin, who was approaching. He said, "Not bad, not bad. Continue to strive and try to surpass them."

The coldness on Saint Lin's face melted away like ice on a glacier, revealing a slight smile. He bowed slightly and cupped his fist, saying, "Elder Wang, I have fully comprehended the Myriad Battles Immortal Technique. I wish to proceed to the second stage of trials."

"Mm, go ahead."

Elder Wang nodded with a smile of approval, not even asking him to demonstrate.

The power he had just unleashed was enough for him to see clearly that the other party had cultivated the Spear Way of the Myriad Battles Immortal Technique to perfection.

Upon hearing this, Saint Lin glanced aside, seeing the young man sitting on the small wooden stool, head lowered, staring intently at the chessboard, seemingly completely unaware of his arrival.

His expression was indifferent. Without saying anything, he turned and left.

Once he left the hut, he headed straight towards the True Venerable Tower to challenge it.

His actions naturally drew the attention of some Saints. Someone immediately took out incense to time the challenge.

Before long, Saint Lin's figure emerged from the black tower. Only about one-tenth of the incense stick had burned.

Despite this, it caused many to narrow their eyes slightly.

"It's a little longer than Saint Mu and Saint Ming's initial challenge times."

"It seems Saint Lin's combat awareness is very strong. Perhaps in this second stage of trials, he might be able to catch up to Saint Mu and Saint Ming."

"His master is the Gun Saint, but he has already surpassed his master, the Gun Saint, here."

The onlookers' gazes were complex. Saint Lin's progress was too rapid, giving them all a strong sense of urgency.

Many no longer had the mind to discuss it. They all lowered their heads and closed their eyes to cultivate in silence.

Saint Flower and Saint Wanderer exchanged a glance, both feeling some pressure. They looked towards the hut, but saw only Li Hao's back facing them, as always, still wrestling with that chessboard.

The two sighed inwardly, then closed their eyes and began their own cultivation.

Elder Wang, seeing the crowd at the cushions quiet down, smiled slightly. He could feel that these youngsters were all starting to get anxious.

His gaze returned to the chessboard in front of him, where he saw Li Hao, in the midst of contemplation, raise a piece and place it down.

"You're quite composed."

Elder Wang chuckled, casually picking up a piece, intending to block and kill, when suddenly he let out a soft "Huh?" staring at Li Hao's move.

His eyes flickered slightly, focusing on the position of the piece just placed. This move seemed to actively step into his layout, almost like sacrificing a piece. But the sacrifice was not obvious, only clear to someone with his chess skill.

However… he could see it was a sacrifice, yet he also vaguely discerned that it was an intentional sacrifice.

If he took the piece, that slightly slower move would just give Li Hao a bit of buffer in another part of the board. If the opponent could seize that gap of opportunity, it might create a flaw in his overall chess formation.

But could this little guy see that?

Elder Wang pondered for a moment while holding his piece, and finally chose to take it. Then he smiled faintly at Li Hao, saying, "This move of yours is practically a free piece for me."

"Mm."

The youth didn't even lift his head, humming a soft acknowledgment, and then quickly grabbed another piece and placed it down.

And the placed position was precisely the move Elder Wang had just gambled on. The moment he heard Li Hao's "mm," his heart had already skipped a beat. Seeing Li Hao's piece, he instantly realized that the previous piece had indeed been intentionally sacrificed by Li Hao. But this was inconsistent with the kid's previously steady and cautious chess style.

The opponent had changed his style!

"You little rascal, you're digging a pit for me!"

Elder Wang couldn't help but say.

Li Hao raised his head slightly, flashing a grin, saying, "It still requires your cooperation to be a pit. Otherwise, it's just a useless move."

Hearing this, Elder Wang rolled his eyes good-naturedly, remarking on his smug look.

"This one move can't reverse the situation. The victory is not yet decided. Although this move did open up a gap for you, this side is about to become a dead end!"

As he spoke, he picked up a black piece and stepped across to Li Hao's side, like setting the universe in order, pressing it down on the border line, sealing off Li Hao's small dragon formation there.

Li Hao smiled, as if anticipating this. He continued to place pieces, tearing open the flaw in Elder Wang's formation.

In just a few moves, Li Hao's small dragon formation was completely killed, while a gap and opening was also torn open in Elder Wang's universal formation.

This was completely different from Li Hao's previous steady and conservative approach. Elder Wang raised his eyebrows slightly. At this moment, Li Hao's chess style had become fierce and sharp, like a sword drawn from its scabbard, willing to be shattered jade rather than whole tile!

Elder Wang chose to defend, otherwise his excellent overall situation would collapse.

But Li Hao attacked relentlessly, abandoning all the previous chess formations and focusing on a single, fierce attack.

Elder Wang's expression became solemn. He parried and defended, retreated step by step, but as Li Hao's pieces landed, he vaguely sensed something was wrong. The chess formations Li Hao had abandoned were all, with his relentless attack, actually connecting and linking together!

In an instant, it was like facing enemies on all sides, turning from a single flawed path into leaks from all directions!

Elder Wang fell into deep thought.

Li Hao, on the other hand, became leisurely. Seeing Elder Wang pondering for a long time without making a move, he went to the side to brew tea and drink it.

After finishing three cups of tea and the other party still hadn't moved, Li Hao strolled into the field with his hands behind his back, admiring the few immortal herbs he had cultivated earlier, which were growing very well.

When the sun began to set, and the evening glow was splendid, Li Hao returned to the chessboard. Elder Wang, having recovered from his contemplation, glared at Li Hao good-naturedly, then placed a piece, saying, "You little brat, I'm too lazy to argue with you in this game. Let's just say you win!"

With that, he placed a piece down. Li Hao quickly sat back on the wooden stool and followed with his own move.

After exchanging several pieces, Li Hao made no mistakes. Elder Wang sighed helplessly and conceded defeat, abandoning his pieces.

Li Hao counted. Although he had won, he had only won by half a point.

Elder Wang had already seen this in advance. In terms of chess skill, Elder Wang was still far stronger.

He had relied on a temporary enlightenment to seize a sliver of opportunity, and Elder Wang just happened to gamble on that opportunity with him.

As the chess game ended, Li Hao's mind buzzed, and a prompt jumped out before his eyes.

[You have comprehended the Chess Way Heart Realm: Transcending the Ordinary and Entering Sainthood]

After three years of playing chess, his chess experience had long since accumulated to the peak of Ninth Rank.

Now, a large amount of information surged in, marking his breakthrough from Ninth Rank in Chess Way to Tenth Rank!

Ninth Rank to enter the Dao, Tenth Rank to offer sacrifice to the Dao, touching upon the True Meaning of the Great Dao!

Li Hao had previously regarded a chess piece as just a chess piece.

But with the later changes in his chess path, he came to regard a whole group of pieces as a single chess piece.

On the chessboard, everything is a chess piece. This was the return to simplicity after experiencing all kinds of chess paths, like seeing the bustling world and returning to true nature.

Like seeing a mountain as a mountain, then seeing a mountain not as a mountain, and finally seeing a mountain still as a mountain.

Since they are all chess pieces, they can be "abandoned," or rather, it shouldn't be considered abandonment, because abandonment itself is also a chess move!

Utilizing them to the extreme, that is chess.

If they are of no use, they are just useless pieces.

Along with the breakthrough in Chess Way and obtaining the Transcending the Ordinary and Entering Sainthood Chess Way Heart Realm, it meant that Li Hao could elevate a combat skill to the Tenth Rank.

He had previously embedded the Tenth Rank Transcending the Ordinary and Entering Sainthood Heart Realms of Cooking Way, Painting Way, and Carving Way into Body Refinement Way, 御 Dao, and Sword Way respectively.

Now, he intended to embed this fourth Chess Way Entering Sainthood Heart Realm into his movement technique.

In this way, his Ninth Rank movement technique could also be elevated to Tenth Rank, Dao Consecration!

In the Heavens and Worlds, those who consecrated the Dao with movement techniques were few and far between. Among those Li Hao knew, there was only Elder Feng.

Although Li Hao learned fist techniques first, and then movement techniques, movement techniques were now more impactful compared to fist techniques.

Earlier, in the battle with the Mixed Heaven Saint, Li Hao had suffered from his weak movement technique, relying solely on the Extreme Realm state to pull away and barely save his life.

If his movement technique reached Tenth Rank, Dao Consecration, movement alone would be enough to rank him among the top-tier Saints in the Heavens and Worlds.

If combined with the Extreme Realm, the speed would be even faster. Among those at the same realm, he would definitely stand in the most pinnacle cluster.

However, Li Hao was not in a hurry to embed and elevate it.

"Elder Wang, if one achieves enlightenment during the True Venerable Tower challenge, will the projected shadow also receive corresponding improvements?"

Li Hao asked.

Elder Wang was picking up the chess pieces one by one from the chessboard, obviously intending to play another game. To Li Hao's question, he casually replied, "Of course not. The projection of the True Venerable Tower is performed before your challenge begins. If you achieve enlightenment during the challenge, that's considered combat improvisation, which is also one of the methods to pass the True Venerable Tower."

He looked up at Li Hao, saying, "But don't think about comprehending something halfway, and then going to challenge it when you're on the verge of a breakthrough. Because once the True Venerable Tower challenge begins, it's hard to give you breathing room. The projected you has a very strong desire to attack, and won't waste words with you."

Li Hao understood. Achieving enlightenment in battle was extremely rare. It happened more often in the lower realms because of accumulated knowledge finally breaking through, but at higher realms, accumulating enough to trigger enlightenment was extremely difficult. Such events were very rare.

"I can try it out."

Li Hao said.

For others, breaking through a bottleneck during the challenge was very difficult, but for him, it was very easy.

Moreover, this seemed to be a loophole in the True Venerable Tower challenge?

"You want to try?"

Elder Wang was stunned upon hearing Li Hao's words, then said with exasperation, "You brat, even if you beat me at chess, I won't make exceptions for you. You must first cultivate either the Yanluo Immortal Technique or the Myriad Battles Immortal Technique to perfection and meet the standard."

"I have already grasped something of the Yanluo Immortal Technique."

Li Hao said.

"Don't even try."

Elder Wang rolled his eyes slightly, saying, "Although your primordial spirit is very strong, surpassing other Saints, making cultivation easier, you haven't cultivated it at all."

"..."

Li Hao was speechless. He immediately began to circulate the three combat techniques of the Yanluo Immortal Technique.

And this was indeed the first time he had actually used them. Although he had already comprehended them, and the experience of many years of practice was in his mind, he had never personally executed them.

But now, they weren't unfamiliar.

As his primordial spirit turned, pitch-black flames seemed to ignite on Li Hao's body.

Li Hao's primordial spirit soared out from his Ninth-Rank Mixed Origin Divine Blood flesh body. The outside of his primordial spirit was covered with pitch-black flames, exuding the murderous intent and aura of destruction of an Asura. Behind Li Hao's primordial spirit, the flames faintly outlined a ferocious evil shadow, as if a demon figure stood behind him.

It was the Yanluo Outer Manifestation combat technique.

"Huh?"

Elder Wang was stunned by this sight.

That Yanluo Outer Manifestation, like an Asura descending, exuded a terrifying murderous intent. It was indeed the Yanluo Outer Manifestation combat technique, and at the level of True Meaning Perfection!

At this time, Li Hao was also carefully feeling the power brought by this combat technique. Previously, when he fought the Ancient Demon, he only used his primordial spirit itself and the primordial spirit combat techniques he had comprehended, which were extremely rudimentary. But this Yanluo Outer Manifestation combat technique was different. Not only was it an Immortal-grade combat technique, but also a very profound one.

Although what he currently mastered was only the first stage of Yanluo, Desolate Stillness, and the Yanluo Outer Manifestation was one of the three combat techniques contained within Desolate Stillness, Li Hao already felt that if he fought the primordial spirit of that True Immortal realm Ancient Demon again, he wouldn't even need to burn his divine meridians to kill it!

As the black flames gathered, a black Yan Blade slowly condensed in Li Hao's primordial spirit's palm!

This blade was condensed from Yan Force, capable of causing extremely terrible damage to primordial spirits!

In the next moment, Li Hao's primordial spirit raised its hand, the black flames contracted, and six Diluo Shields formed around his body, orbiting him, moving with his will.

This Diluo Shield technique could block killing moves from True Immortal realm primordial spirits.

As Li Hao executed the techniques, he was also carefully tasting and feeling them. Unlike the familiar experience that only existed in his mind, personally executing them allowed him to truly feel how strong these three combat techniques actually were.

If he encountered a True Immortal realm Ancient Demon again, he could even quickly kill it in seconds!

After all, his Sword Way of the Myriad Dao Immortal Technique had also reached the level of True Meaning Perfection. Even if he was wielding a damaged Immortal Weapon, with the power of Sword Way, its sharpness would be enhanced several levels, enough to allow him to quickly kill the True Immortal Ancient Demon's physical body, and then use the Yan Blade to quickly obliterate its primordial spirit!

(End of Chapter)