Break the Formation! Nine-Nine Returns to One
Yi Yun's palms were covered in cold sweat, as if he had fallen into an ice cellar!
What should we do now?
He didn't know how long the battle between the firebird and the Pure Yang Spirit would last, and regardless of whether it won or lost, he would die without a burial place if he stayed here!
Escape!
This was Yi Yun's first thought, but where could he escape to?
This fiery hell is extremely deep and fraught with danger. When Yi Yun descended, he used the Purple Crystal Vision to avoid all the wild beasts and gradually ventured deeper.
If he tries to escape at this snail's pace, avoiding the threat of wild beasts, no matter how far he runs, he will be caught and killed by the firebird.
But if he goes too fast, he might rush into danger and be killed by other wild beasts!
Yi Yun's mind raced; he was facing the greatest crisis he had ever encountered since arriving in this world!
The firebird's killing intent remained locked on Yi Yun, so Yi Yun simply stopped hiding; hiding was pointless at this point.
Taking advantage of the firebird's struggle with the Pure Yang Spirit, Yi Yun leaped up. In any case, creating some distance between himself and the firebird would give him a chance to react.
"Huff--Huff--Huff--"
Beneath the fiery inferno, the raging winds and the battle between the firebird and the Pure Yang Spirit grew ever more magnificent. In such a storm, if Yi Yun were to be even slightly caught up in it, he could be reduced to ashes!
He rose a hundred feet higher, yet the storm still tossed him about.
During his escape, Yi Yun used his Energy Vision to observe the battle between the firebird and the Pure Yang Spirit, paying attention to every detail. He wanted to see if the firebird could reveal any weaknesses, or even be killed by the Pure Yang Spirit.
However, to Yi Yun's disappointment, the Firebird seemed to be gradually gaining the upper hand.
Its repeated pecking almost devoured the Pure Yang Spirit.
"Hmm? Those orbs of light..."
Within Yi Yun's Energy Vision, not only was the firebird projected, but also the hundreds of light spheres on the stone wall.
Yi Yun discovered that no matter how fiercely the storm raged, the hundreds of light spheres remained completely still, without even the slightest energy fluctuation, and were not affected by the storm at all.
At this moment, Yi Yun was on the verge of death. Originally, he had no intention of paying attention to these light spheres. However, because his body had grown a hundred feet taller, Yi Yun had a different angle and suddenly discovered that the black and red light spheres on the chessboard seemed to be distributed randomly. But upon closer inspection, they were actually arranged in a well-ordered manner. The distance between two adjacent light spheres was fixed. And for light spheres that were further apart, their distance was an integer multiple of the shortest adjacent distance.
This is...
Yi Yun scanned the area with his senses and found that the number of these light orbs was actually less than one hundred, but rather ninety-nine.
Fifty of the orbs were pure black, and forty-nine were dark red—no more, no less.
Could it be that...
Suddenly Yi Yun had an epiphany. While the firebird was completely absorbed in devouring the Pure Yang Spirit, Yi Yun continuously rose higher, observing the large array of light spheres below from a greater angle.
All ninety-nine orbs of light came into view, their faint glow deeply imprinted on Yi Yun's iris against the backdrop of dark red rocks.
A sudden flash of insight struck Yi Yun.
He suddenly realized that the great array composed of these ninety-nine orbs of light was actually... a chess game!
Fifty black pieces and forty-nine red pieces are situated on a square grid, their arrangement following a certain mysterious pattern!
The game of chess...
Could this chess game hold the secret of the Gate of Fallen Stars?
Yi Yun's heart raced. Perhaps if he could solve this puzzle, he would uncover the secrets of Falling Star Abyss!
He glanced at the firebird battling the Pure Yang Spirit, then looked at the chessboard, a variety of thoughts flashing through his mind.
Trying to escape upwards is basically a dead end; either they'll be caught by the firebirds, or they'll panic and run into other wild beasts and be killed.
So why not take a desperate gamble and see if we can break this deadlock!
The game before him looked like Go. Although Yi Yun had some knowledge of Go, his skills were definitely not up to par with solving this mysterious game. Besides, it was uncertain whether the rules of Go in this world were the same as those in Yi Yun's previous life.
In other words, it was impossible for Yi Yun to solve the game using his chess skills; he had absolutely no idea how to play the next move.
"Whoosh--!"
Just then, a mournful cry that resounded throughout the fiery hell was suddenly heard. Yi Yun turned his head and saw that the firebird was engulfed in crimson-gold flames. It seemed to be undergoing a phoenix-like rebirth, and behind it, the rising flames condensed into the phantom of a Three-legged Golden Crow!
"Three-legged Golden Crow!"
Yi Yun was shocked. The Three-legged Golden Crow was a legendary ancient divine beast.
"Ten suns rise in Fusang, who will rule the Pure Yang?"
This is the general outline of the Tai'a Sacred Law in one sentence: the so-called ten suns of Fusang are ten suns that rise from the Fusang tree, and in each of these suns there is a Three-legged Golden Crow!
The Golden Crow is the embodiment of the sun and a pure yang being. The fact that this firebird can condense a phantom of the Golden Crow proves that it has a trace of the bloodline of the ancient Golden Crow within it!
This firebird is a Golden Crow Remnant!
A Golden Crow Remnant, naturally able to unleash its strongest combat power in this fiery hell where Pure Yang Power is concentrated!
It is now bursting forth with the bloodline of its ancestors, proving that this Golden Crow Remnant has begun to fight desperately!
Yi Yun held her breath; her time was running out.
After the Golden Crow Remnant have risked their lives, there will be a result in a short time, no matter what.
But can I break through this great formation in such a short time?
Yi Yun adjusted his mindset, suppressed his panic, and surveyed the enormous chessboard from a height of hundreds of feet.
Calm down... I need to calm down!
Yi Yun calmed himself down and discovered that, in his Energy Vision, the black and red stones carried completely different energies.
The red pieces actually represent Pure Yang Power, while the black pieces contain a chilling Yin energy!
Yin energy...
Yi Yun's mind raced. In Falling Star Abyss, although the Pure Yang Power was extremely strong, there was also the power of extreme Yin. The previous Ice River and deep pool both proved this point.
Chu Xiaoran's ability to train in the Falling Star Abyss also stemmed from this!
Extremes beget their opposites; pure yang gives rise to yin! A valley of pure yang is also restrained by pure yin, thus maintaining this balance.
Yi Yun looked at the chessboard below, where chaotic and complex energy surged wildly. The situation of each of the ninety-nine chess pieces was reflected in Yi Yun's mind.
In life-or-death moments, people fall into two extremes: either extreme panic, complete disorientation, and near mental collapse, leading to the failure of everything.
Or it's a state of extreme calm, where the mind becomes clearer than ever before.
Yi Yun is the latter.
At this moment, his mind was so calm that it had abandoned all human emotions.
Even the surrounding environment had completely disappeared from Yi Yun's memory—the raging storm, the blazing inferno, the fierce battle between the Pure Yang Spirit and the Golden Crow Remnant — Yi Yun had forgotten everything.
In his mind, there were only these ninety-nine chess pieces and the chaotic, complex flow of energy.
Having controlled the Purple Crystal for so long, Yi Yun possesses an extraordinary and keen intuition about energy!
Energy, if left unchecked, will flow according to the most fundamental laws, and the trajectory of its flow can form the most perfect and harmonious picture in the universe.
However, on the chessboard before us, the flow of ninety-nine portions of energy is slightly imperfect.
Under the Purple Crystal's vision, Yi Yun directly peered into the energy source of the chessboard, making this slight imperfection increasingly clear!
An imbalance of Yin and Yang!
A flash of inspiration struck Yi Yun.
Ninety-nine chess pieces, fifty of which are Yin and forty-nine are Yang.
Yin is in excess of Yang!
This Gate of Fallen Stars, a fiery inferno, represents an imbalance where yang prevails over yin.
There was originally a possibility that a perfect balance could be achieved between this chessboard formation and the Gate of Fallen Stars.
However, it was precisely this lack of energy that prevented this balance from being established...
Yi Yun's mind became clearer and clearer, and at this moment, even his own body disappeared from his sight.
Ninety-nine chess pieces were connected to the Gate of Fallen Stars, and Yi Yun clearly grasped the missing portion of energy!
Suddenly, Yi Yun an epiphany. He let out a long roar, and the Purple Crystal within his body stirred up a huge energy vortex, drawing all the surrounding Heaven and Earth Yuan Qi) towards him!
Yi Yun's eyes shone like stars as he identified a direction and sped off!
Ninety-nine chess pieces, ninety-nine portions of energy; the missing portion will be filled by the body!
Using the Purple Crystal as a catalyst, Yi Yun unleashed a surge of energy, which landed heavily on the chessboard!
At that moment, Yi Yun's body also turned into a chess piece.
The hundredth chess piece!
Ninety-nine plus one equals one hundred.
Nine times nine equals one!
Nine is the ultimate number, and nine times nine is the supreme number. But nine times nine plus one returns to one, just like a cycle.
This is a perfect balance!
Yi Yun is that most crucial "one".
When Yi Yun injected the missing energy into the chessboard formation, the entire formation suddenly fell silent.
The ninety-nine orbs of light suddenly dimmed.
Energy flowed, the great formation dimmed, like the calm before a storm.
Yi Yun held his breath, watching the ninety-nine orbs of light slowly merge into the earth.
"Rumble!"
The entire rock wall began to tremble, rocks crumbled, and pure yang energy surged forth!
A heavy bronze gate slowly emerged from the ground, exuding an ancient, rugged, and infinitely vast aura.
Yi Yun was completely stunned by this aura. Looking at the gate, he felt as insignificant as an ant in front of it.
They're not even in the same league!
Above the gate, ancient carvings form reliefs of four mythical beasts, which are --
Five-clawed Golden Dragon, Seven-colored Phoenix, Flame Qilin, Three-legged Golden Crow!
The four mythical beasts, paired off in twos, each Dao patterns seemingly containing the laws of the Great Dao, are so striking that a single glance is enough to awe the soul.
"What exactly is this...?"
Yi Yun felt as if he were standing before a door to another world; as long as he pushed open this door, it would be as if he had opened up another world!
...(To be continued~^~)