The three of them reached a stalemate before the chessboard.
The chessboard before them was enormous. Almost every intersection could accommodate two people standing on it, and judging by the force Ji Jue had used to push a piece earlier, the pieces were hardly light either. The black and white pieces gleamed faintly upon the board, interlaced in a complicated arrangement. It looked no different from an ordinary game of Go, but everyone knew it could not possibly be that simple.
Su Jiu knew how to play, but she was no expert.
Qiao Zirong gave a helpless smile. "Let me try first."
She raised her arm to stop Qiao Zirong, then turned to Ji Jue instead. "What happened after you made a wrong move?"
At the mention of this, Ji Jue seemed a little saddened. "After a wrong move, a huge, pitch-black hole would form beneath the player's feet. The bottom was filled with sharp black
spikes. Almost all of us were impaled on those black spikes."
Qiao Zirong asked in bewilderment, "Cultivators have so many ways to escape. Why didn't you run? Or your companions nearby could have lent a hand."
Ji Jue shook his head sadly. "There was no escape! The instant that black hole appeared, everyone's spiritual qi seemed to freeze solid, refusing to obey us. We could only watch helplessly as our companions fell into that cavern filled with black spikes, unable to save them."
Su Jiu sensed the Flower Bud within her sea of consciousness and discovered that she had shown no reaction since they entered the Black Dragon Prison. The mark on her face had not heated up and burned as it usually did to signal danger, either.
Su Jiu's eyes flickered, and the corners of her lips lifted slightly. In that instant, everything