Above the Great Marsh.
Celestial music drifted through the air, while the cranes' cries rang clear and pure.
Uncle Xun stared blankly at the blue light overhead, his thoughts drifting far away.
In the Chess-Player Realm, aside from the heavenly phenomena that accompanied the appearance of the Central Palace,
nothing better reflected one's foundations and strength than the number and quality of one's Dao Chess Pieces.
As for quantity, there was little to say. Naturally, the more, the better.
But when it came to the quality of the Dao Chess Pieces themselves, there was far more to it than met the eye.
The quality of the Dao Chess Pieces condensed by a Chess-Player cultivator depended not only on the grade of the Chess-Condensing Method itself, but, most closely of all, on the materials used to condense them.
Everyone knew that the best material for condensing Dao Chess Pieces was a Dao-Integration Material.
But how precious were Dao-Integration Materials?
They were rare treasures left behind when Heaven and Earth first opened or when the Great Dao evolved. Each one used was one less in the world.
Only the Nine Great Dao Sects and colossal powers with unfathomable foundations, like the Cloud Dream Palace, could provide top-grade Dao-Integration Materials for their direct disciples to squander.
For ordinary powers, finding even one Dao-Integration Material was harder than ascending to the heavens.
And so,
in Cloud Dream Haven, the vast majority of Chess-Player cultivators had to find another way.
Heaven and Earth were vast, full of wondrous creations, and gave rise to all manner of mysterious and incredible places.
The Five-Qi Treasure Lands were one such place.
Over the passage of time, Five Elements Qi could condense within these lands.
Cultivators who found such a place could draw Five-Qi into their bodies and use