Chapter 2641: To Be Finished

Within the colossal chessboard, many squares had long been shattered by violent forces. Inside the sea of blood, saber and sword glints flashed wildly as two figures weaved and darted, clashing fiercely.

Lu Ye benefited greatly.

The many powerful techniques Xue Jiu displayed in this battle left him awestruck.

In terms of Blood Dao mastery, Lu Ye felt as if a veil had been lifted and true understanding revealed, thanks to the many insights. Moreover, Xue Jiu wasn't just employing Blood Dao secret techniques.

Lu Ye soon discovered that this individual also possessed extremely high mastery of the Space Dao, at least far beyond his own. This contemporary Blood Clan master had thoroughly integrated the Space Dao, imbuing every saber strike with profound spatial intricacies.

It truly broadened his horizons.

Lu Ye himself had cultivated the Space Dao to some extent; Void Dao Patterns were one manifestation of it. Furthermore, during the Son of the Star Abyss competition, Su Yan had taught him for a while, but unfortunately, due to time constraints, his cultivation was insufficient.

Later, after acquiring Su Yan's Phoenix Primordial Blood, his affinity for the Space Dao grew even stronger. Regrettably, with no one left to guide him, he could only halt his progress there.

Now, Xue Jiu was using his physical body to serve as a teacher, the kind who provides hands-on instruction.

Lu Ye gradually became engrossed, completely forgetting that this was an extremely dangerous life-or-death struggle.

Beside the chessboard, the two players, one black and one white, remained seated across from each other. Hei Xue's face was pale and lifeless. By this point, nearly all the black pieces on the board had been annihilated. Affected by this, his offensive and defensive power had severely weakened, and he was no longer a match for Yuan Xi.

However, once the chess game had begun, the rules dictated that a winner must be determined, so even if he wished to surrender, he could not.

He had already sensed his impending death. With a long, drawn-out sigh, he reflected that he had never anticipated dying in such a place.

Looking back, he, the player, was no less a pawn of Xue Jiu. Not just him, but all the cultivators involved in this assault on Thin Bamboo City were pawns.

Xue Jiu was the true player!

The destruction of these pawns had given Xue Jiu the opportunity to seize the supreme treasure.

However, it seemed Xue Jiu might not get his wish. Hei Xue lowered his head, vaguely discerning the two figures locked in combat through the dense sea of blood.

Even if Lu Ye's current body could unleash its full power, and even though the Starry Sky Chessboard had previously granted Lu Ye immense convenience and numerous powerful enhancements, the Sword Slave wielding the Heavenly Revolving Sword was not easily defeated. This was because, as time passed, the connection between the Heavenly Revolving Sword and the Sword Slave seemed to be steadily strengthening, making the sword's might increasingly potent.

The most obvious sign was the vein-like tentacles coiling around Yun Shi-Wang's body. Initially, these tentacles had only grown intertwined with the arm holding the sword, but now they covered half his body.

At this rate, it would likely cover his entire body soon.

This undoubtedly meant the supreme treasure was draining the Sword Slave's physical power. It was foreseeable that after this battle, the Sword Slave's body might be on the verge of collapse. However, Xue Jiu was indeed facing significant trouble.

Initially, he could trade blows with Yun Shi-Wang, but gradually, he found it increasingly difficult to be a match. This led to a continuous increase in Lu Ye's injuries, and what's worse, those wounds were all infused with the supreme treasure's power, making them difficult to heal and recover from.

At one point, Lu Ye, deeply engrossed in watching the battle, suddenly felt a surge of impatience.

He paused, then quickly realized that this impatience was not his own, but an emotion arising from Xue Jiu, who occupied his body.

With a thought, Lu Ye subtly perceived, "Are you afraid of delays causing complications?"

Xue Jiu's scheme was undeniably thorough, yet he seemed to have underestimated the Heavenly Revolving Sword's power, or perhaps overestimated the Starry Sky Chessboard.

The Starry Sky Chessboard, after all, was not a weapon of slaughter. Even if it had chosen Lu Ye as its pawn and granted numerous powerful enhancements, in such a fierce confrontation, it was ultimately using its weakness to attack the opponent's strength.

If Xue Jiu's soul clone hadn't occupied Lu Ye's body, if he had faced Yun Shi-Wang on his own, he would have been defeated long ago.

Even now, Xue Jiu found it somewhat difficult to sustain.

As for the Heavenly Revolving Sword, Old Tree once said that among all supreme treasures in the starry sky, its quality ranked among the top three, making it intrinsically incredibly powerful.

If Xue Jiu could have quickly subdued Yun Shi-Wang, it would have been fine. But dragging it out this long meant news of the Snowfield might leak, very likely attracting the attention of other powerful cultivators.

This was precisely what Xue Jiu was anxious about.

"Shut up, don't disturb me! You don't want to die like this, do you?" Xue Jiu coldly snapped. During their clash, he was forced back by Yun Shi-Wang's sword, finally looking up towards Hei Xue.

The next moment, he raised his hand and grabbed towards Hei Xue, gritting his teeth, "Child, it's time for you to serve me!"

At that grab, Hei Xue's face changed dramatically.

He was already unable to resist Yuan Xi's attacks and severely wounded. With this new grasp, he felt as if everything about him was out of control. In the darkness, it was as if an invisible force had seized him entirely, then fiercely squeezed.

"No!" Hei Xue roared in defiance, but it was futile. Only the cracking sound of his bones echoed as he turned to dust.

His face was filled with sorrow, his heart deeply pained.

Although he had long known of Xue Jiu's callous nature, capable of wantonly slaying even his own descendants, it was still somewhat difficult to accept when it truly happened to him.

It was precisely because he was Xue Jiu's offspring that he was so easily controlled. Had it been another Blood Clan member, even one weaker in cultivation, they wouldn't have been utterly powerless under Xue Jiu's grasp.

His roars of fury continued, but only for two breaths before vanishing completely.

The colossal figure of Hei Xue collapsed, transforming into a mass of vivid crimson blood, which Xue Jiu drew to his hand with an aerial sweep, then stuffed into his mouth and swallowed whole.

In the Divine Sea, Lu Ye was enraged, "What did you eat?!"

That scoundrel! That was his own body!

Yet he could only watch helplessly as Xue Jiu consumed the vivid crimson mass that had been Hei Xue!

Didn't that mean he himself had eaten Hei Xue?

Even though he wasn't controlling his body at the moment, Lu Ye felt a surge of nausea and immense discomfort.

Xue Jiu had no time to pay attention to him. As the vivid crimson mass entered his belly, a layer of blood-red flames suddenly ignited around his body, even consuming the Mountain-Splitting Saber in his hand.

A sword light swept forth. Xue Jiu raised his saber and slashed. Under the sweeping blood light, this sword light actually shattered. Not only that, but the splattered blood seemed to possess sentience, adhering to the Heavenly Revolving Sword. Although it was quickly shattered into dust by the Heavenly Revolving Sword's aura, even more blood splattered towards it.

The two figures clashed wildly.

After consuming Hei Xue, Xue Jiu's aura surged. It was unclear what secret technique this was, but given that it was performed at the cost of a Cosmic Realm City Lord's life, the technique was clearly extraordinary.

Lu Ye's mood gradually grew heavy.

He discovered that the Heavenly Revolving Sword showed signs of being slowly corroded. The blood adhering to the sword body became increasingly abundant and dense. Xue Jiu seemed to be trying to use this method to refine the Heavenly Revolving Sword while battling Yun Shi-Wang.

Observing this situation, it seemed he truly could succeed if given enough time.

This was not a scene Lu Ye wished to see.

Although he wanted to help Yun Shi-Wang find release, he did not want the Heavenly Revolving Sword to fall into Xue Jiu's hands. Fortunately, he wasn't without a backup plan.

He no longer had time to watch the battle. Tensing his mind, he waited quietly, preparing to intervene at a crucial moment to disrupt Xue Jiu's plans.

Just then, Xue Jiu suddenly seemed to sense something. He hastily turned his head to look, his gaze piercing through the dense blood-red glow to a specific spot, and his face immediately changed dramatically. "Damn it!" he cursed.

Lu Ye saw the scene Xue Jiu witnessed just as clearly.

In that direction, the void had shattered for unknown reasons. From the shattered void, a segment of a tree root extended. In the blink of an eye, that part of the void transformed into a wormhole. Faintly, something was rapidly approaching through the wormhole.

Lu Ye didn't know what was happening, but how could Xue Jiu not?

The thing he feared most in this scheme was the Phoenix Clan receiving news, because once they did, they would undoubtedly rush over to obstruct him.

There was a deep, blood-soaked feud between him and the Phoenix Clan.

Fortunately, the Phoenix Clan had few members and were isolated from information. As long as he was fast enough, he would have a chance to seize the Heavenly Revolving Sword.

But what he feared most had come to pass: the Phoenix Clan had arrived!

The root extending from the void was clearly a root of the Primordial Phoenix Tree. The shattered void was precisely the wormhole opened by the Phoenix Clan.

With the Phoenix Clan's arrival, his current scheme was certainly doomed to fail.

This was the reason for his resentment. To achieve his goal quickly, he had even sacrificed Hei Xue. Although he had many descendants, cultivating a Cosmic Realm City Lord-level expert was not an easy feat.

With the wormhole open and the Phoenix Clan about to arrive, Xue Jiu immediately decided to flee.

Since there was no hope of seizing the Heavenly Revolving Sword, he had to at least ensure he took Lu Ye's body with him. This way, it wouldn't be a complete loss. This body was absolutely the strangest he had ever seen, and now that it was under his control, how could he possibly give it back?

However, just as he was making this decision, he suddenly felt many of the body's powers rapidly fading. In the blink of an eye, out of thousands of powerful forces, only about a thousand remained, and the body's speed and strength drastically diminished.

In an instant, the body reverted to its original state.

"Hmm?" Xue Jiu revealed a look of astonishment, but quickly understood: the Starry Sky Chessboard had fled!

Everything around them was fading; many chess squares collapsed, and the Starry Sky Chessboard's aura was rapidly withdrawing.

Lu Ye's body was so powerful entirely due to the enhancements of the supreme treasure, which were external forces. Now that the Starry Sky Chessboard was retreating, these external enhancements naturally vanished without a trace, immediately reverting him to his original form.

What puzzled Xue Jiu, however, was why the Starry Sky Chessboard fled.

He himself had to flee because the Phoenix Clan had arrived, but what about the Starry Sky Chessboard?

There was no time to ponder, for a sword light assailed him head-on.

Yun Shi-Wang, controlled by the Heavenly Revolving Sword, had no such complex thoughts. Ever since entering the inner realm, the Heavenly Revolving Sword's will had been solely focused on slaughter.

"This is the end!" Xue Jiu's heart sank.