Chapter 4785: Divination, Highest Difficulty
Seeking Knowledge True Lord waved a great hand, and a massive wheel condensed in the void.
The wheel slowly revolved, radiating an immense pressure.
With a trace of pride, Seeking Knowledge True Lord said, "This is this old man's life bound treasure, the Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth."
Heaven Cleave Emperor scoffed from the side.
"Every time you use that thing you have to introduce it again.
The true body of that thing is already shattered, leaving only one fragment, and you still put on this act.
Aren't you tired of it?"
Seeking Knowledge True Lord snorted coldly.
"What do you know?
Even if only one piece remains, it is still a supreme treasure of Heaven and Earth, with none above it."
Lin Moyu could also see that Seeking Knowledge True Lord's Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth had indeed already been broken.
The part condensed in the void was only a phantom; the true body was just that tiny fragment in his hand.
Yet even that tiny piece still emanated a powerful aura, not much weaker than Fragment Heaven True Lord's Fragment Heaven Seal from before.
Seeking Knowledge True Lord said, "Back then, to refine this Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth, this lord exhausted every stratagem, spent a hundred million years, and refined the remnants of ten universes to finally obtain this treasure.
"Even when the Great Annihilation arrived, this treasure was still hard to break.
If this lord had not forcefully used it at that time to divine a path of survival, it might still be whole even now."
He proudly introduced his treasure, only to earn Heaven Cleave Emperor's disdainful laughter.
"In my view, after refining that thing you owed a massive karmic debt.
When the Great Annihilation arrived and you knew you could not escape, you used it at the last moment to deduce a sliver of hope for yourself and conveniently let it shatter in exchange for one last thread of life.
"I do not believe that all those universe level treasures refined by the old monsters were shattered."
Seeking Knowledge True Lord said, "This lord's treasure was never one meant for battle.
Some of those old fellows' treasures are indeed sturdier, but those are combat treasures and are different from this lord's."
Lin Moyu thought of Fragment Heaven True Lord's Fragment Heaven Seal.
The Fragment Heaven Seal was indeed extremely sturdy and had withstood the impact of the Great Annihilation without breaking.
Purely in terms of toughness, it did surpass Seeking Knowledge True Lord's Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth.
But now was not the time to get bogged down on this point, so he hurriedly cut in again.
"I must trouble Senior Seeking Knowledge to make a move."
Seeking Knowledge True Lord gave a snort and no longer paid Heaven Cleave Emperor any attention.
In a low voice he said, "Fellow Daoist Lin wishes to find a Nine Cycle universe, but this lord cannot divine its exact location and can only calculate a rough direction."
Lin Moyu said, "A rough direction is fine as well."
Seeking Knowledge True Lord nodded, raised his head, and tapped lightly toward the Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth.
With a roar, the wheel began to turn.
He had thought the Great Wheel of Heaven and Earth was only a single layer, but once it moved he realized that there were layers within layers, numbering in the thousands.
Seeking Knowledge True Lord said, "This lord refined this Great Wheel with ten universes.
It stands above the Eight Wastelands and over the Four Quarters, deducing Heaven and calculating Earth, and can even seek signs outside Heaven itself!"
The Great Wheel spun faster and faster.
Ten layers of the wheel gradually spread apart, transforming into a three dimensional array of interlocking rings.
The flying rings twisted and turned, and in the end they exploded with a thunderous boom as countless rays of light projected an image.
Lin Moyu saw that the void displayed was actually the Forbidden Zone of Life, and within it a single point of light flickered, so tiny within the boundless Forbidden Zone of Life.
At that moment, a faint strand of light shot out from that light point and flew off into the distance, disappearing into the void.
Seeking Knowledge True Lord said, "That light point is our current position.
The direction it points to is where a Nine Cycle universe should exist.
"Nine Cycle universes are of extremely high level.
If this lord were at peak strength, the accuracy in searching for them would be higher, but now there is only about a forty percent chance of being correct."
Lin Moyu memorized the result of the divination, then bowed to Seeking Knowledge True Lord.
"Many thanks, Senior."
Heaven Cleave Emperor sneered from the side.
"No need to thank him.
That old fellow has only a forty percent certainty; it might not even be accurate."
Seeking Knowledge True Lord snorted.
"Forty percent is only this lord's conservative statement.
In truth it should be at least sixty or seventy percent."
Heaven Cleave Emperor said disdainfully, "Bragging."
Seeking Knowledge True Lord bristled with anger.
"You old fossil, can you let people talk?"
Heaven Cleave Emperor said, "This lord just likes talking this way.
You have a problem with that?
If you dare complain, this lord will beat you to death."
"Come and try!"
"Then we will try!"
Lin Moyu hurriedly retreated out of the Heaven Cleave Crystal to avoid being caught up in their fight.
He felt half amused and half helpless.
These two old monsters started fighting over a single word, and even now, having died and left only remnant souls, they were still so troublesome.
When Seeking Knowledge True Lord said he had forty percent certainty, that was indeed the minimum.
But sixty or seventy percent did sound a bit like boasting; realistically, he should have about a fifty percent chance.
Having a fifty percent chance already made it worth trying, especially since Lin Moyu currently had no better method.
He handed the light point containing the divination result to the little tree and ordered it to search along the direction indicated by the light point.
The little tree complied.
The Forbidden Zone of Life was vast, and earlier there had been no directions at all, so it really had been a matter of luck.
Now that they had a direction, Lin Moyu believed that it would not be long before there were results.
He trusted the little tree as he trusted himself.
As long as there was a Nine Cycle universe in that direction, the little tree would surely discover it.
He then took out the Chess of All Beings.
From the chessboard Lin Moyu sensed a special kind of Heaven and Earth power.
It formed its own universe, relying on no external world.
Its level seemed somewhat similar to the Calamity Scepter.
Lin Moyu had a sudden thought and wanted to smash the thing a few times with the Calamity Scepter to see if he could break it.
But after thinking it over, he gave up.
Such a crazy notion was something only he could come up with.
His soul flame rushed into the chessboard to begin refining it.
The chessboard shone with a glittering light, and the refining process went very smoothly.
This was not a treasure meant for combat.
Although its level was very high, refining it was not particularly difficult.
As long as one was a supreme powerhouse, it could be refined in a short time.
Lin Moyu was not yet a supreme powerhouse, but he possessed a soul on par with one, so refining it took no great effort either.
In just a few days, the Chess of All Beings had been refined and become Lin Moyu's possession.
"There are three difficulty tiers in total: Beginner, Intermediate, and Supreme.
What Heaven Cleave Emperor used earlier was the Beginner difficulty.
"In Beginner, there are one hundred and eight thousand lines along each of the horizontal, vertical, and longitudinal axes.
In Intermediate, there are one million and eighty thousand in each direction, and Supreme reaches as high as ten million and eighty thousand lines.
Each tier is ten times more complex than the previous one.
"No wonder even a supreme powerhouse cannot withstand such an increase in difficulty."
"Then let me see just how terrifying this highest Supreme difficulty really is!"
He chose a patch of empty void, and with a single thought unfolded the Chess of All Beings, directly raising its difficulty to the highest Supreme tier.
His soul power was consumed at a mad rate.
Just opening the game alone was enough to drain the soul of an ordinary supreme powerhouse.
Fortunately, the little tree provided a constant flow of replenishment, leaving Lin Moyu free of concern.
Countless lines intertwined before his eyes; there were ten million and eighty thousand of them in each horizontal, vertical, and longitudinal direction, and with the addition of diagonal crossings and chaotic tangles, even a Great Venerable would be unable to enter the board.
Once the game fully unfolded, countless points of light lit up within it, densely packed and seemingly endless.
These light points gathered or scattered, clustered or sparse, with different colors and distributions.
"Enter the board!"
With a low shout, Lin Moyu shot into the chessboard, becoming one of the light points within.
A flood of information surged into his mind.
Even at the highest difficulty, the rules of the game were still simple, no different from those at the Beginner tier.
Develop yourself, seize resources, and reach the strongest state.
The difference lay in the far more complex internal conditions of the board.
The light points he had seen before might represent factions, peerless experts, or special resource nodes.
At the same time, there were many light points that had not yet appeared, each also concealing troops, powerhouses, resources, and various dangers.
Their number and scale far surpassed those of the Beginner difficulty.
Most importantly, at this difficulty tier, soul power was constantly consumed every single moment, to the point that even a supreme powerhouse would not be able to endure for long.