Chapter 4782: Chess of All Beings
For Lin Moyu, this trip was a true stroke of fortune.
Not only did the World Scorching Flame undergo metamorphosis and evolution to become the Hongmeng Violet Fire, he also obtained the Hongmeng Violet Fire Divine Thunder Pearl, which strengthened the Hongmeng Violet Fire even further.
If not for this fortuitous encounter, there would have been no connection between the two, and he would never have thought to seek out any so called Hongmeng Violet Fire Divine Thunder Pearl.
Some things were simply that wondrous.
What belonged to you would eventually return to you.
The World Scorching Violet Flame had become the Hongmeng Violet Fire.
Its power had grown greater still, making it easy to burn a Great Venerable to death, and even a supreme could not withstand it.
Combined with the Extreme Undying, there was now a very real chance of killing a supreme.
Lin Moyu did want to find a supreme to test it on, but in this era the only supreme was Lin Mohan.
He did not dare test it on Lin Mohan; that would be asking for a beating.
He returned to the Primordial Chaotic Desolation and turned around to enter the Linguistic Divine World.
The Nine Cycle child and mother universe obtained this time was even stronger than an ordinary Nine Cycle universe, more than enough for the Linguistic Divine World to feast upon.
"Heaven Burst, Earth Shatter!"
The nine storied pagoda exploded with a thunderous crash.
The Immortal Great Dao hung in the void like the Silver River of the Ninth Heaven, its power of life falling like a waterfall and pouring into it.
The universe began to replay its evolution, and it was the evolution of a Nine Cycle universe.
Pure and untainted universal power surged out frantically, with the Linguistic Divine World opening wide and devouring it all.
"Nine Heavens Fate Technique!"
Lin Moyu invoked the Nine Heavens Fate Technique to speed up the Linguistic Divine World's absorption.
Having already reached Eight Cycle, the Linguistic Divine World's absorption speed was extremely fast.
Yet what was evolving now was a Nine Cycle universe, and the Linguistic Divine World still could not keep up.
From this, it could be seen that the difference between an Eight Cycle universe and a Nine Cycle universe was enormous.
From the very beginning of the evolution, Lin Moyu understood that this time the Linguistic Divine World could not possibly advance to a Nine Cycle universe.
The gulf between them could not be bridged in a single step.
However, that was of no consequence.
The foundation of the Linguistic Divine World had already been firmly planted.
Previously, the little tree had back fed the Linguistic Divine World and helped it greatly.
As long as another Nine Cycle universe could be found, that would about be enough.
Soul particles flew out and helped the Linguistic Divine World absorb the excess universal power.
Though soul particles were tiny, they possessed enormous appetites, with each one capable of devouring vast quantities of universal power.
The more universal power the soul particles absorbed, the stronger Lin Moyu's soul became.
He vaguely felt that the union of soul reality and illusion might be stronger than he had imagined, and that there were still many secrets about it he had yet to uncover.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion according to plan.
As the Linguistic Divine World grew stronger, the little tree benefitted as well, and the two grew together.
The growth of the little tree in turn enabled it to better back feed the Linguistic Divine World, with the two complementing and nourishing each other.
If the first universal great tribulation were not about to arrive, Lin Moyu would not even need to go out of his way to search for Nine Cycle universes.
If development continued at this pace, then in as little as ten thousand years, or as many as several tens of thousands of years, the Linguistic Divine World would naturally reach the standard of a Nine Cycle universe.
It was just a pity that the universal great tribulation was imminent, leaving him with no such luxury of time.
There were very few Nine Cycle universes, only nine in total.
Now that he had taken one, only eight remained.
With the vastness of the Life Forbidden Zone and the boundless void, the difficulty of finding another Nine Cycle universe was extremely high.
Lin Moyu pondered,
"Besides the little tree, is there any other way to search for a Nine Cycle universe?
"In all things there is always a sliver of hope.
Even on the path of becoming a supreme, there is more than one route.
There must be more than one method of finding a Nine Cycle universe."
"The little tree is searching on its side, so I cannot remain idle."
Lin Moyu began to deduce possibilities.
Many methods arose, only to be rejected by him one by one.
Going into the Life Forbidden Zone himself to search was unrealistic.
Besides, the little tree was already searching.
Every root was his eye.
If even the little tree could not find it, then going personally would not change the result.
Using the Calamity Scepter might have been viable in the past, since it required distancing from the universes and overlooking the void of the Life Forbidden Zone.
However, once he left, the chances were better than eight in ten that the Calamity Scepter would never return, so that method was out of the question as well.
As for fate calculation, even the strongest cultivator on the path of fate since time immemorial the one titled the Omniscient Seeking Knowledge True Lord could not accurately lock onto a Nine Cycle universe.
He might barely manage to deduce the approximate location of a Seven Cycle universe, but when it came to a Nine Cycle universe, he would almost certainly fail.
What was more, the Seeking Knowledge True Lord now had only a remnant soul left…
Unless Lin Moyu turned him into an undying undead.
The moment this thought appeared, it was firmly rejected.
Lin Moyu had his bottom line; such a thing was absolutely out of the question.
Still, there was no harm in going to ask him.
Those two had lived for countless years.
Their experiences and what they had seen surpassed his by far.
The Hongmeng Stone observed from the outside on a grand scale, while those two had personally experienced everything within the universes.
The results would certainly differ.
With a single thought, one of Lin Moyu's soul clones dove into the Heaven Cleave Crystal.
Inside the Heaven Cleave Crystal, the two old men were staring wide eyed at each other as they played chess.
They were playing a special kind of chess that Lin Moyu had never seen before, and it looked extremely complex.
The chessboard was three dimensional, with one hundred and eight thousand lines running horizontally, vertically, and directly, forming a cube that hovered in the void.
Within the board, lines crisscrossed vertically, horizontally, and diagonally in incomprehensible complexity.
There were not just two armies on the board but many factions fighting one another.
Each of them controlled one faction, while the more than ten remaining factions were made up of spiritual constructs they had created and controlled.
Lin Moyu did not interrupt them and quietly watched from the side.
He could see at a glance that this chessboard contained the Great Daos of Heaven and Earth.
Ordinary cultivators had no right to play.
At minimum, one had to be at the Great Venerable realm to qualify to take part.
After watching for a while, Lin Moyu roughly grasped the rules.
Though it appeared complicated, the fundamentals were somewhat similar to go.
The Heaven Cleave Emperor was extremely powerful and absolutely dominant in the present era, yet in the matter of chess, he was inferior to the Seeking Knowledge True Lord and was at a disadvantage.
If it were not for the interference of several other factions, the Heaven Cleave Emperor's army would already have been wiped out.
The Heaven Cleave Emperor's voice sounded by Lin Moyu's ear.
"Little friend, would you care to enter the game and fight?"
Lin Moyu smiled.
"Gladly, but I do not know the rules."
The Heaven Cleave Emperor said,
"It is fine.
Once you enter the board, the rules will naturally become clear."
Lin Moyu agreed.
With a shift of thought, yet another faction appeared in a corner of the chessboard.
At the same time, he received all the rules of this chess game.
This game was called Chess of All Beings, and it had only one goal: survival.
The one who survived to the end would be the winner.
Within the game, a great catastrophe would occur at set intervals, and each disaster would kill many pieces.
To survive, one had to grow stronger.
To grow stronger, one had to secure resources and improve in power.
To that end, it was necessary to eliminate other factions and seize their resources.
One could also seek out wild resources and gain strength through exploration and combat.
Lin Moyu had just joined the game, and his resources and troops were limited.
Fortunately, his location was in a corner, unremarked upon by others, and disasters would not reach this place for now, giving him ample time to develop.
Lin Moyu began to play according to his own style.
The world within the board was somewhat similar to the real world, and it appeared possible to set up formations, but his true personal strength could not manifest inside the game.
The soul, however, had its use.
The stronger the soul, the more troops it could control at once.
The pieces created by drawing lines on the board could only fight automatically.
The longer he played, the more wrong it felt to Lin Moyu.
He sensed that his forces resembled an expedition team under the control of a supreme.
He had become a supreme, commanding an expedition team to attack other universes and scour them for resources.
The entire chessboard resembled the Life Forbidden Zone, full of countless dangerous areas.
Those wild resources were like one undeveloped universe remnant after another.
"This Chess of All Beings is no ordinary thing."
Lin Moyu's heart stirred as he realized something was off.
But since he had entered the game, he would throw himself into it boldly.
Win or lose, it would proceed according to his own will.
His soul power poured forth, and he began to lay out formations on the board…