Beneath an ancient pine, atop a stone board, the chess game remained unchanged.
Yet deep within the eyes of Dongfang, Grand Palace Master, who was gazing down in thought, a flicker of fury flashed. "Who moved my chess piece?"
He had harbored suspicions before. The entire game had gone too smoothly. The Heaven-Piercing Tower side, with Yue Titan, Fei Wenli the Snake Demon Empress, and that sleeping woman forming a three-way balance of power, had no reason to fall into such a helpless predicament so easily. It should have taken a fierce battle to suppress them. Yet the game's course had gone so smoothly that it was almost... Gold Emperor's intervention to help Yue Titan escape instead seemed like a clumsy attempt to conceal the truth. Yue Titan bore the fate of the Heaven-Piercing Tower's survival on his back; even without Gold Emperor's help, he could not have been easily killed or captured. Otherwise, Dongfang would have acted personally long ago.
As a player in this chess game, even if Yue Titan lost, he would surely lose on the final move.
Not at the beginning.
Yue Titan had suddenly vanished, fleeing without a trace.
And that woman, who had always slumbered in dreams, was actually in no hurry, watching as the Heaven-Piercing Tower's overall situation collapsed. How could that be possible? And Fei Wenli, the Snake Demon Empress who looked down upon the world and dared to attempt sweeping across the Heaven Realm—how could she remain so unmoved and stand idly by as the Heaven-Piercing Tower sank?
If his suspicions were correct, then someone had definitely moved his chess pieces in secret.
The Chess-Match Talent could command even those of Divine Rank, controlling all things beneath heaven. Yet if an exceptionally powerful "chess watcher" took advantage of his arrangements to