Time: Shortly after Ye Qiyan obtained the Sage Card.
Inside Martial Might City.
A girl named Mo Shi sat on a seat formed by two overlapping Black Shadows, holding a black chess piece, the king, between her fingers.
Across from her sat Shen Yuan, her face full of frustration.
"Again! I refuse to believe this. We learned this thing together, so how could I not win even once?"
Mo Shi giggled and set down the piece.
"You've already lost to me sixteen times in a row. Want me to go easy on you? Winning all the time gets pretty boring, after all."
Shen Yuan's face reddened, not from embarrassment, but from anger.
"No way! I refuse to believe it!"
"All right, then. Get ready for your seventeenth defeat."
The pieces on the chessboard returned to their starting positions on their own. Just as she was about to move a piece, a Black Shadow Person appeared out of thin air beside her.
"Hmm?"
The piece fell to the ground, and Mo Shi's mouth stretched into a broad grin.
"Ah~ Interesting. I'd been thinking of using my main body to snatch that card, but someone took it? And... there aren't many people capable of doing something like that."
Black upright and inverted cross-shaped starlight flickered in her eyes.
She lightly licked her lips, her body flickering back and forth between human and Black Shadow Person.
Her consciousness flashed back into the Dead Realm.
Within moments, the smile on Mo Shi's face grew even more delighted and excited.
"Found it. A dead Sage Card. Hehe~ So it was you, Ye Qiyan. You really make me curious. The key to that Card Sequence hasn't even been born yet. Even I can't force my way inside.
How did you do it?
Honestly...
You always make