Those who held the pieces outside the game could see the board clearly.
Those caught within the game found it hard to tell what was happening.
The Western Domain of Yanzhou, Pingye Dao Palace.
After Jiang Sheng entered seclusion there, the entire Pingye Dao Palace seemed to vanish from existence. No one paid it any mind.
Though all four domains of Yanzhou were now in chaos, with war raging everywhere, Pingye Dao Palace remained deathly still. Like the other ruined Dao Palaces, it seemed utterly deserted.
In truth, someone was still inside Pingye Dao Palace.
Deep within the palace, beneath layers of rubble, a dust-covered, withered corpse suddenly stirred. A trace of Qingming Spiritual Resonance near its liver flickered, then steadied, illuminating its entire body.
As that Qingming Spiritual Resonance spread, life gradually returned to Jiang Sheng, whose spent lifespan had reduced him to a dried corpse.
Jiang Sheng did not know whether others had to endure one of the Five Decays of Heaven and Man before breaking through to Integration. But the moment he broke through, the decay of his lifespan struck. His remaining years ran out, all vitality drained away, and he became this withered corpse.
Even so, Jiang Sheng had not died.
Life and death turned in a cycle, flourishing and withering in turn. As Jiang Sheng's body shriveled and his lifespan ebbed away, a lampstand remained within his sea of consciousness, though that too had crumbled into drifting sand.
The Lotus Sea formed by Azure Lotus and Black Lotus had vanished into ash. The lotus pond was choked with decay, and even the towering Azure Profound Lotus Platform had withered and broken. Yet the lamp, carved entirely of green jade and shaped like a precious lotus, remained unchanged. Its tiny flame of time burned quietly, casting