Chapter 501: 斩龙战棋魂

With this move, the grand dragon was destroyed, and at the same moment, new rules were perfectly triggered.

The spirit body of the chess player before him began to stir restlessly, its eyes filled with disbelief.

"Impossible! I clearly had a half-piece advantage; how could you have slain my dragon?"

Xu Yang sneered. "Perhaps this is fate. Now, can I get the answer I want?"

As their gazes met, Xu Yang's intentions were clear to his opponent, but it seemed things were not that simple yet.

Boom!

The entire cave began to tremble mysteriously. Xu Yang and the chess player's spirit body shook uncontrollably. The chessboard itself was occasionally scorched by fiery meteorites falling from above; with each move, a random fireball would descend, incinerating a corresponding square on the board.

"Hahaha! Come on! I want to see if fate intends to kill you or spare you!"

The chess player had no intention of letting Xu Yang leave alive. In his philosophy, those who lose a game don't deserve to live, and those who win must not live!

The deadly exchange continued, the chess situation chaotic, but the player's mind could not waver...

The two continued to fight under these special life-or-death rules. Finally, when Xu Yang placed his last piece, the chess player's spirit body, with its black pieces, lost the entire board and had no winning prospects left.

"If fate intends to destroy me," Xu Yang declared, "I will conquer it by half a piece!"

Xu Yang suddenly stood up, an overwhelming aura instantly erupting from him as the stone table before him shattered into dust. The board overturned, pieces scattering. The black and white pieces strewn across the floor became yet another set of shackles imprisoning sentient beings.

The moment he stood up, the surroundings within the cave changed once more. Xu Yang found himself inside a formation, and the spirit body of the chess player had transformed into a truly pallid chess spirit. Xu Yang felt a sense of déjà vu, but what truly shocked him was the gruesome blood-red mark above the chess spirit's head.

"The Blood Demon Curse..." Xu Yang murmured. "Indeed, the answer truly lies with him!"

Xu Yang's fighting spirit reignited. Unexpectedly, at that moment, several beams of light flashed down around him, and Daoist Monarch Xiaohua, leading Long Kun and three others, appeared.

"Boss, I took the liberty of bringing everyone here because I was worried about you..." Shi Lingyun said timidly. Prompted by Ling Yao at her side, she immediately began applying various enhancement effects to the team.

The "Seven Thousand Chapters of Sacred Dao Heavenly Music" provided various attribute-enhancing effects. Mysterious and unpredictable musical notes continuously entered everyone's ears, igniting a fervent fighting spirit with a sensation of surging bloodlines, as if one could hear the very thoughts of their hearts.

"Your skill doesn't show its true power in solo combat," Xu Yang mused. "But if applied amidst an army of thousands, even a descended god would likely be unable to replace your role!"

Xu Yang was truly sighing with heartfelt emotion. Fortunately, he had discovered this girl in advance and brought her under the Heavenly Azure Empire's banner; otherwise, if she had been abducted by ambitious individuals, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The powerful attribute enhancements brought Long Kun and Ling Yao infinitely close to the peak and perfection of the Tribulation Crossing Realm. Coupled with Xu Yang and Xiaohua, two supreme figures, this five-person team would not fear any challenge from any faction on the continent in the slightest.

Before long, chess spirits formed from black and white pieces appeared one after another. The general rules were identical to the previous battle against the Chess Sage in the Tomb of the Buried Cultivators. The difference was that the strength of this illusion formation in Cloud Dream City, and the power of these emerging black and white chess spirits, were hundreds of times stronger than those from the Tomb of the Buried Cultivators.

Daoist Monarch Xiaohua was already considered the master of the forbidden land of the Tomb of the Buried Cultivators. Yet now, after arriving in Cloud Dream City, she too had become a challenger; this mere difference in status was enough to illustrate the perilous nature of this place.

"Kill!"

Even so, no matter how strong the sword spirits were, they could not withstand the sharpness of Xu Yang's five-person team.

Boom!

Long Kun stood to the east, phoenix flames pouring forth from him. He resembled a fire deity descended to the mortal realm; without needing much movement, he could enhance the burning power of his flames to the extreme. Ling Yao stood to the west, her hundred-foot sword glow, like the will of a sword emperor, continuously branching into heavenly sword rays from this massive hundred-foot blade. Each ray had the power to decimate Tribulation Crossing Realm cultivators, and hundreds and thousands of these rays continuously appeared, sweeping over the chess spirit formation below.

The north and south sides seemed to experience the least pressure. Xu Yang and Daoist Monarch Xiaohua were both supreme figures of the continent, beings infinitely close to divinity. With each move, they obliterated these chess spirits in vast swathes, indicating no pressure regarding their offensive output.

As the support, Shi Lingyun had the weakest individual combat strength and was naturally protected in the center. Yet, with her subtle, intricate incantations, she maximized her role.

"Boss, this illusion formation is not to be underestimated!" Long Kun mumbled after a long fight, still seeing no end in sight. "It's comparable to Daoist Monarch's Endless Pagoda world!"

Xu Yang was not in a hurry to respond. Instead, he looked at Xiaohua beside him. "You're the expert in this area."

"Hmph, now you know who the real powerhouse is, don't you?"

Xu Yang broke into a cold sweat, giving Xiaohua a look that seemed to say, "I'm scared of you."

Seeing the girl haughtily huff, she suddenly waved her hand. The dazzling exquisite pagoda in her palm rapidly expanded, and in mere moments, it shot up to the dome of the illusion formation!

"Oh my goodness... Sister Hua," Long Kun exclaimed, "you didn't just bring out your entire Endless Pagoda, did you? This is utterly terrifying!"

Xiaohua chuckled. "The biggest difference between an illusion formation and an energy sealing formation lies in the arrangement and form of the core. Simply put, an illusion formation's only weakness is its core. Find this key, and breaking the formation becomes effortless. But if you can't find it, you'll never get out, even if you exhaust yourself to death here."

"I'm currently using the Illusion Pagoda to test the limits of this illusion formation," she continued. "By determining the maximum power it can withstand, I can likely deduce the source of its power and naturally pinpoint the location of its core."

It must be said that Daoist Monarch Xiaoyao truly was one of the most brilliant women on the continent. With this method she devised, she was able to quickly locate the formation's core by herself.

"It's right there, the glowing hidden spot!"

Following Xiaohua's guidance, with a flick of his finger, Xu Yang unleashed an incredibly powerful physical sword energy that precisely and cleanly shattered the glowing spot.

As expected, the chess player, now transformed into a gigantic ancient silver chess spirit, reappeared!

At this moment, the chess player's spirit body was even more demonic and ferocious than before; it seemed that after the chess game was forced to end, the curse on him had also been triggered.

"The strength of your team is simply astonishing!" the chess spirit exclaimed. "Originally, with anyone else entering besides you, the difficulty of the chess tribulation challenge you faced would have increased tenfold. I can't believe you passed it so easily."

Xu Yang chuckled. "Stop being so coy. You should know very well that any one of us is not something your little tricks can handle. We are here today to uncover the truth behind the battle of yesteryear! And what exactly is that blood mark on your head?"