The look of surprise and doubt had yet to fade from Lin Yi's gaze.
The chessboard reflected in his eyes, brilliant as a river of stars, began to turn.
Stars dotted its expanse. Within the invisible chessboard, threads interwove and points of light flickered and shifted, seemingly sketching out a hazy mass of golden light.
This was...
"Godhood?"
A look of bewilderment flashed across Lin Yi's eyes.
This sudden change had caught him completely off guard.
After his initial shock and doubt, the surprise in Lin Yi's eyes gradually faded, replaced by a thoughtful look.
This change certainly wasn't caused by setting up the Heaven and Earth Chess Game.
After all, in theory, though his Heaven and Earth Chess Game ritual was grand and sounded incredible, as if it wielded the great power of heaven and earth, Lin Yi had actually only established a concept. He had yet to truly lay out the game.
For the Heaven and Earth Chess Game to truly take shape, he still needed to lay it out bit by bit.
So the source of the unexpected change had to be the Heavenly Screen, which hadn't been part of his plans.
Realizing this, Lin Yi immediately reached out to sense what the Heavenly Screen was showing.
The next moment, he seemed to have guessed something.
"The Spirit Ascension Ritual?"
Examining the scene the Heavenly Screen was currently showing, Lin Yi fell into thought.
That Spirit Ascension Ritual had been a crucial turning point on his path of cultivation.
Through that ritual, he had not only completed the spirit ascension of all his Soul Rings to the hundred-thousand-year level, but also used that opportunity to truly grasp the essence of Soul Master cultivation.
Without that experience, he would never have been able to develop his Chess Martial Soul to its current level and lay out the Heaven and Earth Chess Game.
A trace of reminiscence flashed through his eyes.
Back then, he had completed his Body Martial Soul's Second Awakening.
His own Heaven and Earth Chess Game.
The moment those three came together, a particular idea had occurred to him.
He had found the answer to a question that had puzzled him for a long time.
When a transformed hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast cultivated to seven rings, it truly became human.
What was so special about the Seventh Soul Ring?
The Martial Soul Avatar!
Yet even after a Soul Beast transformed and cultivated to seven rings, or even nine, it still seemed to retain the ability to sacrifice itself.
Why was that?
A Soul Master's Seventh Soul Skill was always the Martial Soul Avatar, but how was that Martial Soul Avatar related to the one a Soul Beast obtained after transformation?
His many questions had been answered at that moment.
Afterward, he had begun to prepare.
The moment he fused with his Seventh Soul Ring, he used the chessboard as his main body and completed an unconventional form of cultivation.
All his Soul Master cultivation had been converted into cultivation for his chessboard at that moment.
He had practiced all his Soul Skills in the chessboard again and again, thoroughly consolidating his cultivation.
That moment had lasted only an instant.
Yet he had experienced the entire process of his Martial Soul's awakening-no, from the stage when it was taking shape at his birth, through its awakening and its growth with each Soul Ring it absorbed.
He had experienced a Soul Beast's lifetime of cultivation.
But he hadn't truly lived that life. Instead, he had taken his Martial Soul's perspective and recalled his own path of cultivation anew.
After that, all his Soul Rings had mutated, their spirits ascending to the hundred-thousand-year level.
The price had been the direct depletion of more than half the Gold of Life within him.
Though its origin had remained and the Gold of Life had slowly recovered over time, it still hadn't fully recovered.
It had only returned to seventy percent of its peak.
The memories faded.
Lin Yi seemed to understand why he had suddenly gained Godhood.
No, the golden light above his head couldn't truly be called Godhood.
Even calling it the embryonic form of Godhood wasn't accurate.
It was more accurate to call it faith.
A kind of power that defied description.
This power was faintly gathering of its own accord, seeking to condense Godhood for him.
Only an instant had clearly passed, yet he had gathered faith from both the Douluo I and Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King eras.
"The effect of the Heavenly Screen's projection is terrifying indeed."
Lin Yi sucked in a cold breath, recognizing the importance of this opportunity at that moment.
"My Spirit Ascension Ritual had too great an impact on the two eras. It might even affect their future development."
"So I received a gift from both eras."
"But the scenes the Heavenly Screen showed of this life of mine didn't explain the principles in detail, so I only received this faith."
This little faith was nowhere near enough to condense Godhood.
"When my Heaven and Earth Chess Game is truly shown, perhaps I can find a chance to pass on the principles behind my Spirit Ascension Ritual."
The idea took root in Lin Yi's mind.
That way, the changes might be more thorough.
Not only that, Lin Yi suddenly thought of the other innovations he had made on his path of cultivation.
If those were shown too, could he gain faith from them?
That was a good question.
When Lin Yi finished thinking and turned back to look at Xiao Hongchen in the room, he already had an answer to the question that had troubled him earlier.
He would draw out these people's potential.
In this era, Soul Tools were undoubtedly a money pit of a field.
Ye Xishui and Kong Deming had indeed pushed the limits of Soul Tools to unprecedented heights, making them comparable to the Limit Douluo among human Soul Masters.
But Ye Xishui and Kong Deming themselves could not be replicated.
Each of the two Soul Tools they had made also relied on its own shortcuts.
Compared to Soul Tools, the future of Soul Masters was much brighter.
Even for someone with a talent for Soul Tools, Lin Yi wouldn't recommend pursuing them.
But Xiao Hongchen was different.
"The Three-Legged Golden Toad's exceptionally high affinity for metal is a natural advantage that makes him perfect for Spirit Forging."
Lin Yi's eyes burned.
If the forging system of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King could appear ahead of time, he might be able to use it to obtain Four-Word Battle Armor made from Heavenly Forged Metal.
That Four-Word Battle Armor might even have the potential to evolve into five-word or six-word armor.
His path of cultivation, which he had thought could advance no further, seemed to have found a way forward.
Of course, that was wishful thinking.
It was nearly impossible to push the forging system to the level of Heavenly Forging in a short time.
But even taking ten thousand steps back, even if he couldn't obtain Heavenly Forged Metal, the early emergence of the forging system alone would have a huge impact on the Soul Master Worlds of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King and Douluo I.
"Even in theory, if I place a piece on Xiao Hongchen in my Heaven and Earth Chess Game and guide him in creating the forging system, that achievement itself will be part of my Heaven and Earth Chess Game."
The faith attracted by that achievement would be perfectly suited to his Heaven and Earth Chess Game.
"I could even use this to influence the development of the Soul Master World in Douluo I, letting them encounter the forging system and the Soul Engineer system ahead of time. The impact would be anything but small."
Lin Yi's imagination ran wild, and at that moment, an even crazier ambition took hold of him.
"Can my Heaven and Earth Chess Game be expanded further through the Heavenly Screen?"
It would no longer be confined to Douluo II, the era he currently occupied.
Instead, it would cross time itself, and across boundless space and time, he would place his pieces in Douluo I!