Above the Great Marsh.
Immortal music drifted through the air, and cranes cried with crystalline clarity.
Xun Bo stared blankly at the blue light overhead, his thoughts drifting far away.
For those in the Chessmaster Realm, aside from the celestial phenomena brought forth when their Central Palace manifested in the present world,
the clearest measure of their foundations and strength was the quantity and quality of their Dao Chess pieces.
Quantity went without saying: naturally, the more, the better.
But when it came to the quality of the Dao Chess pieces themselves, the intricacies ran deep.
The quality of the Dao Chess pieces a Chessmaster Realm cultivator condensed depended not only on the grade of their Chess-Condensing Method, but, most closely of all, on the materials used.
Everyone knew that the finest materials for condensing pieces were Dao-Union Relics.
But how precious were Dao-Union Relics?
They were rare treasures left behind by the first opening of heaven and earth or the evolution of the Great Dao. Every one used was one fewer remaining.
Only behemoths with unfathomable foundations, such as the Nine Great Dao Sects and the Cloud-Dream Palace, could provide top-tier Dao-Union Relics for their direct-line disciples to squander.
For ordinary factions, finding even a single Dao-Union Relic was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Thus.
The vast majority of Chessmaster Realm cultivators in the Cloud-Dream Realm found another path.
Heaven and earth were vast, and creation possessed divine wonders, giving rise to all manner of inconceivably mystical lands.
The Five-Qi Treasure Grounds were among them.
Within these treasure grounds, the accumulation of ages could condense the qi of the five elements.
Upon finding such a place, cultivators could draw the five qi into their bodies, using them in place of Dao-Union Relics as the foundation for condensing Dao