Laying Out the Pieces

"Primordial and the Origin Beasts were placing pieces and vying against each other, while the Void Domain watched from the sidelines. If I joined, I would inevitably disrupt the game. Should I contend, or remain still and watch?"

After completing his breakthrough, Han Yuan began to ponder.

He saw an enormous chessboard. The beings behind Primordial and the Origin Beasts each placed their pieces, while the Void Domain became the chessboard itself, watching the game in silence.

Three of the four fruits borne by the Flower of Nothingness were the three greatest hidden masterminds in the world. Now that Han Yuan controlled the fourth fruit, he had naturally gained the qualifications to both play and watch the game.

Should he play, or watch?

Watching was simple. Like the Void Domain, one only needed to make the core of one's rules infinitely approach nothingness—no Dao, no laws, no substance, no form—until there was no contention. The advantage was that there was no need to involve oneself in conflict, but the drawback was having no power to resist in the future.

Playing was different. One had to fight, to contend! And the ultimate purpose of contention was to devour one another. After devouring the other, the victor would command the power of two fruits and gain the ability to directly devour the Void Domain. Gathering the power of three fruits would make them the final winner. No matter how the last fruit hid or resisted, it would no longer be able to stir up any waves.

Upon analyzing it this way, there were only two choices. One was to become a talking spectator, offering aid to the side falling into decline and maintaining the balance of the battle. The other was to become a player and join the struggle!

In the end,