Chapter 2762: Swallowing the Starry Sky Chessboard

Falling out of the void, Lu Ye immediately fled forward.

Moments later, he sensed fluctuations of spatial power behind him, followed by Xue Jiu's aura appearing in his perception.

The Blood Lord arrived remarkably fast.

Although he knew Xue Jiu was also skilled in spatial techniques, the relentless pursuit showed that Xue Jiu was truly enraged this time.

Lu Ye couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

Even a simple escape might not save him from Xue Jiu, not to mention the two troublesome, perhaps even burdensome, items he carried.

One was the Starry Sky Chessboard. Although this supreme treasure's spiritual essence was depleted, its power remained intact, and its aura permeated the air, making it easily detectable from a great distance.

The other was a large bag of Dao Integration Pearl fragments he was carrying. Similar to the supreme treasure's aura, the fragments' presence was also difficult to conceal.

Carrying these two items was like wearing two beacons, making it impossible for him to hide from Xue Jiu's pursuit.

But how could he bear to simply discard them?

Not to mention the numerous Dao Integration Pearl fragments; with them, his Inner World Secret Art cultivation could easily reach the seventh level, with potential for the eighth.

This was directly related to his own strength, his foundation for the future. He couldn't abandon them, at least not all of them.

As for the Starry Sky Chessboard, with such a supreme treasure in hand, no one would willingly let it go.

Opportunities to obtain supreme treasures were rare. His acquisition of the Starry Sky Chessboard this time was purely coincidental; by himself, Lu Ye had no means or ability to subdue such a treasure if he encountered it.

It was different from the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl. He had been able to subdue the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl previously because its power was precisely countered by the Talent Tree.

As his thoughts raced, Lu Ye furiously activated the power of his Talent Tree.

He intended to try refining the Starry Sky Chessboard.

Before its transformation, the Talent Tree could devour subordinate treasures. Now that it had transformed again and reached the supreme treasure level itself, Lu Ye estimated it should be able to devour other supreme treasures.

If that were true, the Starry Sky Chessboard would no longer be a burden, and he could internalize its benefits first.

As before, when the invisible roots spread out, they burrowed into the chessboard in his hand, and Lu Ye's eyes immediately lit up.

Just as he had expected, the Talent Tree was indeed capable of devouring supreme treasures now.

What surprised him even more was that the devouring efficiency was quite high!

Lu Ye could clearly feel that some mysterious essence within the Starry Sky Chessboard was being devoured by the Talent Tree and drawn into his body.

He then paused slightly, taken aback.

Because he clearly sensed that this mysterious essence, once absorbed, was something he could control.

Although he had never experienced this before, Lu Ye clearly perceived at this moment that this mysterious essence had two potential destinations.

One was to be injected into the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit, and the other was to accumulate on the Talent Tree itself.

Lu Ye was immediately surprised.

This was his first time using the Talent Tree to devour a supreme treasure, so he hadn't anticipated such a change. However, after a brief contemplation, he understood the mechanism behind it.

When the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit first appeared, Lu Ye had vaguely realized that it could continue to grow and expand. As the fruit matured, the power of the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl should gradually strengthen. In other words, the power of this supreme treasure, the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl, would continuously increase on the Talent Tree, eventually restoring to its peak, or even exceeding it.

At that time, Lu Ye didn't know what price he would have to pay. After attempting to infuse Dao power into the fruit, he had only managed to activate the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl's power, concocting the potent poison that had previously wreaked havoc on both the Blood and Insect races.

Only now did he realize that the growth of the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit required this specific method.

It needed to devour the mysterious essence from other supreme treasures.

It made sense; for a supreme treasure to strengthen itself, the price to pay would naturally be extraordinary.

Furthermore, after the mysterious essence from the Starry Sky Chessboard was devoured, its second destination was to accumulate at a certain location on the Talent Tree.

Lu Ye could foresee that if he chose this path, the outcome of the Starry Sky Chessboard being devoured would be identical to what happened with the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl previously.

A third fruit would form on the Talent Tree!

What to choose?

At present, Xue Jiu's main body was poisoned. Although the power the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit could unleash was far inferior to the true Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl, the poison itself was still a supreme treasure's power, so it wouldn't be easy for Xue Jiu to expel it. However, given his immense strength, even without expelling it, the impact on him was not significant.

Moreover, he lacked the time and energy to deal with it.

Earlier, when he sensed something was wrong, his first thought was to continue suppressing the Starry Sky Chessboard. However, he failed, and was instead caught off guard by the treasure's final burst of power. When the Starry Sky Chessboard escaped, he immediately pursued it, leaving him no time to worry about the poison in his body.

He merely planned to slowly expel the poison once everything had settled.

So, at this moment, it seemed to Lu Ye that the best course of action was to let the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit devour the mysterious essence within the Starry Sky Chessboard to strengthen its power. This might allow for deeper control over the poison within Xue Jiu's body.

But this thought merely flashed through Lu Ye's mind before he abandoned it without hesitation.

Even if, as he imagined, the Ten Thousand Poisons Pearl fruit, once strengthened, could more deeply control the poison within Xue Jiu's body, the poison's effect on Xue Jiu was still limited.

Unless Lu Ye could concoct an even more potent poison and find a way to infect Xue Jiu with it again.

But after being tricked once, Xue Jiu wouldn't let him succeed so easily, and there was no environment here like the Blood Origin Sea that offered such unique advantages.

Conversely, the power of the Starry Sky Chessboard seemed to still be of some use in the current situation.

In an instant, Lu Ye made his decision.

The invisible and formless mysterious essence immediately gathered and rapidly accumulated at a specific spot on the Talent Tree under his control.

"Do you think you can escape?" Xue Jiu's voice came from behind. For him, one of the ten great city lords, to personally give chase, it would be a complete joke if Lu Ye managed to escape.

As he spoke, he raised a hand and struck towards Lu Ye's direction. A gigantic crimson palm print soared through the void, pressing down with thunderous force.

Faced with such ferocious divine might, Lu Ye had no way to dodge. He could only let out an angry roar, forcefully activate his Dao power, and with his long blade shimmering with light, he charged forward, following the blade's path.

A moment later, as he burst out of the crimson palm print's range, a mouthful of blood sprayed out. He was already significantly injured, and now his condition had worsened.

Yet, he dared not show any slack. The brief accumulation of power just now finally allowed him to cast the Void Shift Art once more.

Taking advantage of the moment, his figure phased into the void.

"Delusional!" Xue Jiu roared, launching a punch. Lu Ye, whose figure had already blurred, seemed to collide with an invisible wall and was bounced back out.

Earlier, Xue Jiu had been caught off guard when Lu Ye used his shift technique to escape. Now, with precautions in place, Lu Ye wouldn't be able to pull such a trick in front of him.

The distance between them closed further.

Under these circumstances, in less than the time it takes to brew half a cup of tea, Lu Ye would have no more room to escape, and would only be able to fight Xue Jiu to the death.

However, at this very moment, Xue Jiu suddenly saw Lu Ye's figure flicker. A crimson-shrouded figure appeared beside him, and through the crimson haze, it was clear that this figure wore no clothes at all, completely naked.

"Blood Treasure Clone?" Xue Jiu's brow furrowed, then he sneered. Using the Blood Treasure Clone technique in front of him, the Blood Lord, was utterly ridiculous.

After the clone appeared, it immediately parted ways with Lu Ye's main body. Not only that, it also took the Starry Sky Chessboard with it.

Xue Jiu instantly saw through Lu Ye's intention. This was clearly a tactic to sacrifice a pawn to save the king, intending to use the Starry Sky Chessboard to lure him away, allowing Lu Ye's main body to escape.

But how could such a tactic work on him?

Xue Jiu's figure also flickered. The next instant, a Blood Treasure Clone appeared. In contrast, his Blood Treasure Clone was clad in crimson garments, clearly formed by condensed power.

His main body continued to pursue Lu Ye, while his Blood Treasure Clone went after Lu Ye's clone.

Main body against main body, clone against clone—perfectly fair.

A moment later, he struck again. Lu Ye, fleeing ahead, was buffeted, his figure swaying precariously, appearing utterly disheveled.

Xue Jiu's eyes grew brighter and brighter, for he had a premonition that in less than twenty breaths, he would capture Lu Ye. The young man was clearly at his wit's end.

Ten breaths later.

Xue Jiu's expression changed, and he turned his head to look to the side.

That direction was precisely where his Blood Treasure Clone was located.

His pursuit was close to success, and the same was true for his Blood Treasure Clone; just a moment ago, the Blood Treasure Clone had engaged Lu Ye's clone in battle.

Initially, Xue Jiu had thought that since they were both clones, Lu Ye's clone would surely be no match for his own, easily crushable.

But after they actually engaged, he was astonished to discover that Lu Ye's clone was somewhat unusual!

Although it was a clone, the power it displayed was comparable to a main body.

His own clone, however, was not as strong. Although it was much more powerful than an average Dao Integration cultivator, it only possessed thirty percent of his main body's strength. In just three breaths, it was obliterated by Lu Ye's clone, which unleashed boundless sword light.

How could this be?

Xue Jiu simply couldn't understand.

Although he had lost a clone, it was not a significant issue for him. At present, he only needed to focus on Lu Ye's main body. Once the main body was captured, the Starry Sky Chessboard would still return to his hands.

However, just as he was thinking this, he saw Lu Ye's figure suddenly blur.

Xue Jiu's expression changed. He realized Lu Ye was about to cast the Void Shift Art again.

But previously, when Lu Ye used it, there were still traces, allowing Xue Jiu to disrupt it. This time, there was no sign at all.

By the time Xue Jiu noticed and tried to interfere, it was too late. His fierce attack dispersed Lu Ye's figure, and his aura was no longer present at that spot.

Xue Jiu abruptly turned his head, transforming into a streak of crimson light, and pursued in the direction where his clone had just perished.

He realized that Lu Ye's main body had used some unknown method to directly shift to the clone's location.

This was definitely also a spatial technique, but one that Xue Jiu found somewhat difficult to comprehend.

This young man... still had such hidden abilities?

Xue Jiu was furious, feeling as though he had been played.

However, it was clearly unrealistic for Lu Ye to escape his pursuit using such a method.

A new round of pursuit began. Having learned from his recent setback, Xue Jiu was tempted to ignore Lu Ye's clone, but he couldn't afford to; if he lost track of Lu Ye's clone, he feared the young man might truly escape this ordeal.

Therefore, he immediately conjured several Blood Treasure Clones to pursue Lu Ye's clone, while his main body continued to focus on Lu Ye's main body.

Like maggots on bone!