Mountain wind swept through the paths of Ancient Sword Mountain, fluttering everyone's sleeves, yet failing to dispel the heavy atmosphere around the sword platform.
The massive Liangyi Chessboard enveloped the high platform, its spiritual energy flowing endlessly and shrouding both Su Yi and Zhuge Hong within.
Five Elements Chess—the chessboard contained Yin and Yang, divided into five domains corresponding to the Five Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.
Players used their own spiritual energy to condense pieces, placing them on the crisscrossing intersections.
A piece's elemental property was determined in an instant by the position it was played and the nature of the spiritual energy injected by the player.
Victory depended on using one's pieces to construct an endless "Five Elements Cycle," suppressing, eroding, and ultimately devouring the opponent's spiritual light.
Metal overcomes Wood, Wood overcomes Earth, Earth overcomes Water, Water overcomes Fire, and Fire overcomes Metal. Intergenerating and interovercoming in a continuous cycle, the exquisite complexity of its variations made it a truly profound art.
On the platform, Zhuge Hong watched Su Yi's hand posture as he held a piece and the look in his eyes, instantly relaxing half his worries.
'His grip is hesitant, and his eyes don't even look like he's thinking—he's completely an amateur!'
'Turns out he's just a paper tiger with empty grandiosity.' The corners of Zhuge Hong's lips curled up, forcibly holding back a smirk.
'No, wait a bit longer. I'll mock him after I win.'
On the other side, Su Yi watched Zhuge Hong's mouth twitch from time to time, feeling somewhat speechless.
'Seriously, this kid's poker face is terrible.'
“Alright, stop paying attention to him. It's our turn to move,” Lin Chan's voice interrupted Su Yi's thoughts.
“Enter the Li Domain, Fire Tempering.”
And so, Su Yi wrapped a chess piece before him in spiritual energy and set it down.
...
Time slipped by quietly amid the silent placement of pieces.
Among the spectating disciples below, several from Ancient Sword Mountain who were proficient in the game watched with absolute focus.
One of them lowered his voice and said to his companion, “Look at Senior Brother Zhuge's layout. It is truly exquisite.”
“He uses Metal as the arrowhead, pushing forward aggressively to seize vital positions. Earth serves as his foundation, anchored in the center as firm as a rock. Water and Fire unfold like two wings, echoing each other while pinning down the opponent.”
“And those unassuming Wood pieces are hidden behind the array. They appear to be mere support, but actually conceal a deadly secret. The moment they are nourished by the Water energy up front, they will instantly surge into life, completing an encirclement alongside the forward assault.”
Another disciple chimed in, “Indeed. Senior Brother Zhuge already holds a seventy percent chance of victory; his Five Elements rotational pattern is taking shape. Look at Su Yi—his pieces are scattered, their spiritual light unfocused. I'm afraid it's beyond saving...”
Although their discussion was hushed, it reached everyone's ears clearly, adding to the tense atmosphere.
At this moment, Zhuge Hong's heart was filled with a fiery smugness.
His eyes burned brightly as he stared at his connected, radiant pieces, then glanced at Su Yi's scattered, dimly lit board. He couldn't help but sneer inwardly: 'Su Yi, O Su Yi, no matter how formidable your sword dao is, on this tiny chessboard, you're nothing but a layman! Once I place this winning move and trigger the Five Elements Cycle to claim victory... with a fifty-percent spiritual energy suppression placed upon you, let's see if you can still keep up this calm facade!'
He could almost feel the rule power of the Liangyi Chessboard tilting in his favor; victory was right at his fingertips.
Below the stage, the hearts of everyone from Divine Might Manor tightened at the sight.
Qiu Ning looked grave. Though she was not skilled in chess, the stark imbalance in the game was clear to see.
Gongsun Lin was the same, staring intently at Su Yi as cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
As for Ming Xi, her head was entirely occupied with thoughts of how to pull her punches when beating up Zhuge Hong later without getting bogged down by the Ancient Sword Mountain disciples.
While the crowd below chattered anxiously, Su Yi remained standing quietly on stage with his sword. His face was as calm as unruffled water, as if the precarious match before him had nothing to do with him.
Yet beneath this serene exterior, he was actually feeling helpless because he didn't know the moves.
Within his sea of consciousness, he was quietly communicating with the senior residing within.
'Senior Lin Chan, what... what kind of layout are you setting up?' Su Yi asked, gazing at his own scattered, weakly lit pieces.
The situation was on the verge of collapse. If he lost the game and had his spiritual energy suppressed by fifty percent, though he didn't fear fighting Zhuge Hong, it would still add unnecessary trouble.
“What's the rush?” Lin Chan's voice carried a touch of laziness, yet resonated with unquestionable confidence.
“This Zhuge Hong's chess skills are decent, and his layout is tidy enough, but he focuses far too much on the superficial intergeneration and interovercoming of the Five Elements. He has lost sight of momentum and change, the true essence of chess. Just stay calm and watch how I instruct him.”
Hearing this, Su Yi's mouth twitched.
'What, are you playing the wise old master playing with a novice too?'
Just as Lin Chan spoke, Zhuge Hong suddenly knit his brows.
He acutely sensed that something felt off on the board. Those pieces belonging to Su Yi, which had been firmly suppressed by him, seemed to share an extremely subtle resonance with one another.
This shift was exceptionally discreet. Had he not been fully immersed in the match, it would have been nearly impossible to spot.
'What's going on? Why does energy seem to be flowing between these scattered pieces?'
The momentum shifted in a flash. The audience below still saw no clues, maintaining their belief that Zhuge Hong held a secure victory.
Right then, an Ancient Sword Mountain disciple who had been staring intently at the game suddenly cried out, “Wait! Have you noticed? Su Yi's pieces... their spiritual light seems to be connecting!”
That exclamation instantly caught everyone's attention.
Focusing their gaze, everyone saw that the pieces originally scattered everywhere were indeed echoing one another according to a profound pattern.
Though the spiritual light remained faint, they were no longer fighting in isolation, but rather forming an invisible, overarching net.
“Impossible!” another disciple blurted out. “They were clearly a loose heap of sand just a moment ago! How did they suddenly...”
Just as the crowd was filled with shock and doubt, Lin Chan—controlling Su Yi—curled her lips into a soft smile and placed the decisive piece.
“Alright, the game of playing weak to strike strong is done. Time to end this.”
At the same time, Su Yi raised his finger slightly, not pointing toward any fierce focal point of life and death, but landing instead on an extremely remote corner of the board that almost everyone had forgotten.
There lay only a single isolated piece played at the very beginning—weak in spiritual energy, Earth-attributed, and consistently suppressed by Zhuge Hong's Wood pieces.
As the piece landed, it was light as a feather, bearing no sharp or fierce momentum whatsoever.
Yet the instant this seemingly insignificant piece settled into place, a sudden change erupted!
“Hum—!”
That lone Earth-attributed piece suddenly burst with an unprecedented, heavy radiance!
Simultaneously, all those previously scattered, suppressed, and dim pieces seemed to be instantly connected by an invisible pulse!
Their positions were no longer meaningless scattered dots; the energy between them was completely activated and linked! Centered on that ignited Earth piece, a majestic, endless momentum materialized out of thin air!
Before this newly born, far grander and more subtle momentum, Zhuge Hong's seemingly flawless Five Elements formation suddenly appeared riddled with flaws.
On the chessboard, winds surged, clouds shifted, and heaven and earth flipped upside down!
“Th-This is impossible!” The smugness on Zhuge Hong's face froze instantly, turning into extreme horror. The piece in his hand clattered onto the board, and he stood as if struck by lightning. “What kind of chess style is this?! When... when did you lay this trap?!”
He couldn't fathom how his meticulously crafted victory could crumble to dust under a single, seemingly casual move from his opponent!
He lost!
He had truly lost in his strongest domain!
'How is this possible?! His posture didn't look at all like a seasoned veteran!'
Meanwhile, a dead silence fell over the audience below before exploding into a deafening uproar.
Everyone was thoroughly shocked by this miraculous move.
The Divine Might Manor disciples shifted from deep worry to overjoyed excitement, with many bursting into cheers.
Gongsun Lin covered her rosy lips, her bright eyes filled with disbelief.
Qiu Ning and Murong Yue also let out long sighs of relief, slowly unclenching their tightly held fingers.
However, Ming Xi alone froze at first, before becoming thoroughly displeased.
'What on earth?! If Su Yi is actually this good, doesn't that mean what Gongsun Lin said earlier was actually just Su Yi letting her win all along?!'
She felt a sudden tightness in her chest.
She knew better than anyone how hate-to-lose Su Yi was, yet in front of Gongsun Lin, he was willing to lose to her over and over just to make her happy?!
'Wait, why her?!'
For a moment, she didn't know whether to be happy or upset.
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