Pash

Aier remembered that Qingya Plane had passed through the Era of Wilderness, the Era of Divine Beasts, the Era of Magical Beasts, and the Era of Orcs before reaching the age of humans.

The Era of Wilderness began when Qingya Plane had only just come into being. All living creatures followed their instincts, and the age was defined by slaughter.

Back then, slaughter was the only theme of Qingya Plane.

The strong slaughtered the weak, treating them as food. The entire plane was in chaos and disorder.

It was also the longest era in Qingya Plane's history.

Later, the Divine Beasts born of the plane gradually grew stronger and became the new Sovereigns of Qingya Plane.

With their immense power, they drove away the unintelligent Savage Beasts of the Era of Wilderness. Bound together by their bloodlines, they developed into various clans and established the beginnings of order in the world.

After the four Supreme Planes were created by the Overgods, the Divine Beasts went to the four Supreme Planes, leaving only their descendants behind on Qingya Continent.

These beings, who carried Divine Beast Bloodlines, could not compare to the Divine Beasts in either power or potential. Thus, they named themselves "Magical Beasts."

Those with rich bloodlines were Saint Realm Magical Beasts.

Those with diluted bloodlines were divided into high, middle, and low ranks.

This was the Era of Magical Beasts.

Later, humans appeared on Qingya Continent. The newly born humans were the finest food for Magical Beasts.

At the same time, human women appealed to the tastes of some Magical Beasts, and so, after a time, the orcs came into being.

Orcs had physiques comparable to those of Magical Beasts, along with humans' powerful capacity for learning.

After the Overgods appeared and established temples on Qingya Plane to teach magic and spread their faith, the orcs quickly grew stronger and gradually displaced the Magical Beasts as the Sovereigns of Qingya Plane.

Qingya Plane was now in the Era of Orcs.

According to Aier's divine sense, at least sixty percent of the living beings on Qingya Plane were orcs. Of the remaining thirty percent, twenty percent were humans and ten percent were Magical Beasts.

In the Era of Orcs, humans were in a far better position than they had been during the Era of Magical Beasts, but they still occupied the lowest rung of society.

Of course, whether in a Divine Plane or a Material Plane, great strength could make any rules yield.

Although Aier was human, the might he casually let slip was enough to show everyone that he was a powerful being.

He did it on purpose.

He had no interest in playing at being a harmless pig so he could ambush a tiger.

He was the tiger!

Why pretend to be a pig?

Besides, if some fool ruined his mood while he was enjoying himself, killing everyone who offended him wouldn't make him feel any better.

That was why, back at the Four Divine Beasts Clan, Aier had displayed his perfected Willpower and immediately cowed Gaisresen and the others.

Letting people know he was not to be trifled with could spare him a lot of trouble.

"Sir, your food and drink."

A Fox Clan serving girl with two upright ears carried Aier's food and wine over and set them out for him.

"Mm, thank you."

Aier nodded to the serving girl, poured wine from the jug into his cup, and drained it in one go.

"Ha—"

"Not bad!"

Compared with the wine in Hell, the wine on Qingya Plane was much lighter.

Still, Aier found it had a flavor of its own.

"Tsk..."

Suddenly, Aier frowned and shook his head.

With a thought, dozens of tornadoes swept through the city, tearing the orcs who were abusing humans to shreds and scattering them as bloody scraps.

The horrifying sight left everyone nearby dumbstruck.

Even the soldiers who arrived on the scene didn't dare investigate any further.

What a joke.

How much did they earn in a month? Why risk their lives?

Even if some of the dead orcs had powerful connections, it wasn't their place to stand up for them.

After finishing his meal, Aier didn't linger in the city. He continued on his journey.

Aier had no idea that his actions along the way had sparked a rumor: "A powerful human has appeared."

Both the humans and the orcs took the news very seriously.

The orcs were currently the rulers of Qingya Continent. They had driven the Magical Beasts from the continent and were naturally wary of any race that might threaten their rule.

The humans, meanwhile, regarded Aier as a symbol of hope and believed he was their guardian.

After Aier left, the relatives of the orcs he had killed had also wanted to kill some humans to vent their rage. But whenever they drew their blades, a violent wind would sweep through and kill them on the spot.

This kept the orcs who came after them from daring to abuse humans any further.

Some humans, meanwhile, followed the trail Aier had left behind, hoping to find him and gain his guidance or protection...

In a way, Aier had brought forward the rise of the human age.

"You lost, Aier."

The Red-Haired Youth, dressed in a white robe, smiled as he placed a white piece on the board. "That makes our score one thousand three hundred and twenty-one to thirteen."

"Want to play again?"

"Hmph!"

Aier snorted. "Again!"

"Sure."

The Red-Haired Youth didn't take offense. Like Aier, he began gathering up the pieces on the board.

Aier had met the Red-Haired Youth while traveling around Blood Peak Continent.

At the time, Aier had been exploring all sorts of things in Hell when he came across the Red-Haired Youth playing chess against himself.

Out of curiosity, Aier had asked him to teach him the rules of xiangqi. That had led to a thousand years of playing against each other.

In all those thousand years, Aier hadn't beaten the Red-Haired Youth even once.

Eventually, Aier had even come up with rules for Chinese chess, Go, and Gomoku.

Of course, those were only the rules. The board itself was infinite in size.

A quick game could take a few days. A slower one could last decades, centuries, or even millennia.

But whatever the game, Aier had only ever managed to win a handful of times—or a dozen or so—at the beginning.

Once the Red-Haired Youth had familiarized himself with the rules, Aier never won again.

Over the years, Aier had naturally guessed that the person playing against him might be Pash, the nominal master of Blood Peak Continent—the Blood Peak Overgod.

After leaving the Four Divine Beasts Clan, Aier had known it was only a matter of time before an Overgod came looking for him.

In the entire Coiling Dragon Universe, there was only one person who enjoyed playing chess and was so skilled that even a Sovereign of Laws admitted defeat: Pash, the Blood Peak Overgod.

And these were no ordinary games of chess. They played using the power of their souls.

This meant that Pash, the Blood Peak Overgod, had not only mastered chess, but also possessed far greater soul power than the other Overgods.

Even Utrede, a Sovereign of Laws, had to admit defeat.