Chapter 2640: Phoenix Nest

Beside the chessboard, the gigantic Yuan Xi radiated a faint glow. She raised her hand and unleashed a palm strike towards Black Blood. Under this blow, the protective barrier on Black Blood's body wavered, its luster dimmed, his frame swayed, and blood seeps from his nose and mouth.

His face was grim, for ever since Jiao's death, the situation had rapidly deteriorated.

Wherever Lu Ye went, no one could stand against him. Countless black pieces were cut down, leading to a continuous weakening of the black side's overall strength, which in turn affected his own offense and defense as the player.

In the previous two rounds, seeing the unfavorable turn of events, he hardened his heart and dispatched the Queen of the Cricket Lair to intercept Lu Ye.

That Queen, arguably his strongest piece after Jiao's death, was originally a powerful entity on par with him, and had slain many enemies in the game, possessing extraordinary strength.

To ensure foolproof success, he even deployed more than a dozen Dao Integration realm cultivators to accompany the Queen.

Yet, even with such a lineup, they failed to curb Lu Ye's relentless slaughter. After sacrificing nearly half of the Dao Integration realm cultivators, they only managed to inflict minor injuries on Lu Ye.

If he hadn't promptly withdrawn the remaining living black pieces, they would likely have been completely wiped out.

Unstoppable! Unrivaled!

The Starry Chessboard had appeared many times in the Inner Realm, but never before, in the 'Legion Chess' mode, had a single cultivator been able to influence the entire game's trajectory.

Legion Chess, as the name implies, is a contest of each legion's overall strength and foundation, involving large-scale confrontations between numerous pieces from both the black and white sides, and a battle of wits between the players in deploying their pieces.

But now, the white side had given birth to a monster that shattered the game's balance, and ironically, this monster's growth was fueled by the fallen powerhouses of the black side.

The thought of it made Black Blood so distressed he wanted to vomit blood.

"Pfft..." He actually did spit out a mouthful of blood, his gaze lowered, watching the struggle within a certain grid on the board.

Within that grid, the black and white pieces had originally been entangled in a fierce, evenly matched fight, but ever since Yuan Xi had just transferred Lu Ye there, the tide had turned completely.

This human soldier-cultivator slaughtered wherever he went; wherever his dark longblade pointed, powerful Dao Integration cultivators fell like straw.

Then Black Blood watched him charge into the center of the grid and grasp a blood-red banner, fluttering proudly.

The Legion Flag!

This was the second significant change since the game began. Just a few rounds ago, this Legion Flag had suddenly appeared in this grid. Both players immediately perceived the miraculous utility of this blood-red banner and naturally began moving troops and deploying numerous pieces to this location to contend for it.

Now, the Legion Flag had undoubtedly fallen into the hands of the white side.

As Lu Ye raised his hand and pulled the banner from the void, it suddenly transformed into a solid ethereal image, hovering behind him.

The blood-red aura rippled outwards like waves on a lake, spreading across one grid after another. All white pieces enveloped by the blood-red ripples instantly felt their strength increase by varying degrees.

The wondrous effect of this Legion Flag was its ability to boost the strength of pieces by 0.5% to 2% within one hundred grids centered around the flag's location. The closer a piece was to the flag, the greater the enhancement.

This was also why Yuan Xi and Black Blood had deployed so many cultivators to contend for it; in a normal game, this banner was truly a treasure capable of influencing the entire game's flow, an item that absolutely had to be seized.

Whichever side captured this banner would gain a significant advantage in the subsequent confrontations.

However, this game, at this point, had become somewhat abnormal. The abnormality lay with Lu Ye; his current power was singular and far surpassed anyone else's in the entire game.

Originally, before he had fully matured, Jiao could have been considered his strongest opponent. But after killing Jiao and being unhindered, Lu Ye's strength increased so rapidly that the black side was utterly unable to contain him.

For example, the Queen of the Cricket Lair, whom they had previously engaged, had accumulated nearly 4000 Dao power through prolonged slaughter. Compared to Lu Ye's 5000 Dao power, she was only 1000 short.

If it were merely this difference, the Queen might still have been able to contend with Lu Ye for a while.

However, even though Lu Ye could no longer gain further direct power boosts in the game, the continuous 'surprises' he received were instead compensating for and bolstering his overall foundation.

His strength, speed, and even reactions had all received unimaginable enhancements.

Furthermore, he possessed an endless array of strange abilities bestowed by the chessboard...

Under these circumstances, how could the Queen contend with Lu Ye? Even leading a dozen Dao Integration realm cultivators, they were completely routed and slaughtered.

Now that the Legion Flag was in hand, the white side's advantage would expand even further. Unless the black side could seize the Legion Flag from Lu Ye, they might stem the tide of decline.

But to snatch the Legion Flag, they would have to kill him, which was an impossible dilemma.

Black Blood's face grew increasingly gloomy, as if he could already envision his own defeat and demise.

Previously, Lu Ye was the only unstoppable force in the entire game. Now, wherever he moved, all white pieces within one hundred grids received a strength boost, meaning there were now even more unstoppable white pieces.

When it was Black Blood's turn, he didn't hesitate for a moment, immediately strengthening his own defenses.

Due to the shift in the overall strength of both sides' pieces, he had been completely outmaneuvered in the players' offense and defense. If he didn't reinforce his defenses this round, two more attacks from Yuan Xi would likely kill him.

He had been doing this for several rounds already; in other words, he had consistently been in a state where he could only take hits without retaliating.

"Just clinging to life!" Yuan Xi was not surprised by this sight, merely offering a sneer.

Even if Black Blood reinforced his defenses every round, she was confident she could end the battle within ten rounds. As long as she could eliminate the black player, the game would be won.

She was considering whether to prolong the game, as there were still a considerable number of black pieces on the board. Once the game ended, these black pieces would be freed from their constraints, making it too troublesome to pursue and eliminate them afterwards.

It would be better to annihilate them while the game was still active.

Currently, the white side possessed this capability.

Faced with Yuan Xi's mockery, Black Blood remained silent. A defeated general indeed had no right to say much, but in his downcast eyes, a flickering glint appeared.

Because he suddenly recalled something.

This time, Black Blood City and the Cricket Lair had led their forces to attack Thin Bamboo City under the command of Xue Jiu. In the very beginning, Xue Jiu had even personally intervened to help open a wormhole, allowing their army to descend upon the location and catch Thin Bamboo City off guard.

He had also received specific orders from Xue Jiu to prioritize stalling tactics in this battle.

At first, he didn't understand why, but he later learned that Xue Jiu intended to lure out the Starry Chessboard hidden here!

Xue Jiu had evidently, through some unknown method, detected this supreme treasure's hidden location and lured it out, clearly intending to scheme for it.

If he intended to scheme, then he must have a contingency plan.

But now the game was nearing its end, so why hadn't their ancestor appeared yet?

Black Blood couldn't fathom it. The only thing he was sure of was that their ancestor wouldn't make a futile effort. Therefore, in this game... he might not be without hope of turning the tide and winning!

All he had to do was wait for Xue Jiu's arrival.

In a flash, several more rounds passed, and the situation for the black pieces grew increasingly dire.

Even though Black Blood had fully mobilized them to evade the white pieces' pursuit, the numerical disparity between the two sides on the chessboard had become extremely vast. Especially with Lu Ye now carrying the Legion Flag, not only was his own combat strength unparalleled, but the white pieces in the surrounding grids also received significant enhancements.

Given the development of the situation, Black Blood estimated that it wouldn't be long before his pieces would likely be completely wiped out.

Moreover, he had already sensed Yuan Xi's intention. For the past few rounds, Yuan Xi had clearly held back, seeming to purposely eliminate all the black pieces first before dealing with him, the player!

What a malicious thought.

Yet, the ancestor was still nowhere to be seen...

Almost as soon as this thought crossed his mind, he suddenly heard Yuan Xi on the opposite side let out a soft exclamation, then turn her head to look in a certain direction.

Black Blood also felt a sudden premonition the next moment and quickly looked in that direction. What met his eyes was a streak of blood-red light soaring from that direction at an unimaginable speed.

From within that blood-red light, Black Blood sensed a familiar aura.

His heart swelled with joy!

He had been right. The ancestor indeed had a contingency plan. How could he, after expending immense effort and even revealing the existence of a supreme treasure to instigate this great battle and lure out the Starry Chessboard, simply abandon it?

Now that he had arrived, he was undoubtedly here to seize this opportunity to subdue the Starry Chessboard.

Although the Bug and Blood races, along with their allies, had suffered tremendous losses in this battle, as long as the ancestor succeeded, any loss, no matter how great, would be acceptable.

However, what puzzled Black Blood was that the ancestor's aura was very weak, and it seemed something was chasing him from behind.

"This is..." Yuan Xi's expression suddenly became solemn. A strong sense of alarm abruptly arose in her heart. Focusing her gaze, she saw an unfamiliar head streaking through the blood-red light.

It was literally just a head, with nothing below the neck – no body or limbs.

Normally, such an injury would be unsurvivable, but this head clearly still held vitality, and its face was filled with an expression of intense exhilaration, as if it had just done something incredibly stimulating.

"Xue Jiu!" Yuan Xi's face changed drastically.

Even though it was only a head, she still sensed a trace of Xue Jiu's aura.

Before the great battle, Xue Jiu had made one move, and Yuan Xi had remembered that aura, so she was certain her judgment was correct: it was indeed the City Lord of Blood Drink City, one of the peak powerhouses of the Inner Realm.

She immediately realized that this was a wisp of Xue Jiu's split soul, residing in some Blood Race individual. As for who that Blood Race individual was, she didn't know, as she had never seen them before.

Therefore, even though only a head remained, it still possessed vitality, for this was one of Xue Jiu's methods.

Just as Yuan Xi was trying to comprehend what Xue Jiu was attempting, she suddenly detected a sharp and terrifying killing intent following closely behind the head.

Even with Yuan Xi's strength, upon sensing the sheer purity of this killing intent, she couldn't help but shiver.