A Wager over the Chessboard

(Next, we will use a perpetual calendar based on a betting agreement.)

After splitting into ten thousand blank soul fragments, Shen Ge's body swayed slightly. Clearly, even the blank attributes of these ten thousand soul fragments had greatly depleted his energy.

But these are minor issues; they'll heal in time.

Shen Ge looked at the fragmented souls before him, waved his hand to imprint the aura of the "Life and Death Art" into their minds, and simultaneously set it to feelings of disgust and slaughter. After doing all this, he sighed softly and murmured, "I hope you can give me a little surprise."

Yes, Shen Ge planned to place his hopes for breaking through the Tribulation Transcendence on these divided souls. Once these divided souls could grow, he would absorb them back, and his cultivation would naturally increase rapidly, just like that Venerable Reincarnation.

Shen Ge suspected that the reason why that Venerable Reincarnation had not ascended to heaven all these years was probably because he had dispersed his cultivation into his clones, and because he had always refrained from cultivating, which was why he was able to continue to remain in this world.

If one day he were to reclaim all his clones, Shen Ge dared not even imagine how terrifying he would become; becoming an immortal on the spot might not even be enough to describe the scene.

"Are you really going to gamble with him?" Bai Lili appeared beside Shen Ge at some point, frowning as she said, "That's the mysterious and unpredictable Venerable Reincarnation. And he's a Venerable; you should know what kind of strength it takes to be called a Venerable, right?"

"Aren't you afraid he'll directly descend in his true form and kill you?"

"The Venerable Reincarnation..." Shen Ge chuckled lightly, seemingly disdainful. "In front of you and me, does he deserve to mention Samsara?"

"Hmm?" Bai Lili exclaimed in surprise. For some reason, she felt that Shen Ge had changed in this short period of time. He no longer had that feeling of being heartbroken and indifferent to everything. He had returned to his arrogant personality!

"I sealed away a portion of my memories. Now that this ghostly realm has been formed, I must quickly improve my cultivation, become an immortal, and evolve the Underworld. This will be my primary goal."

As he spoke, Shen Ge sensed the outside world and, upon discovering that it was night, he waved his hand to open a portal, sending out all the divided souls. Instantly, the dark night was filled with ghostly shadows and rampant yin Yin Qi, and ten thousand divided souls scattered in all directions.

Just as he was about to close the door, he suddenly sensed a dark aura approaching.

Shen Ge paused, stopping the action of shutting down.

Bai Lili frowned, just about to close the door, but Shen Ge stopped her, saying, "Let him in."

With Shen Ge stopping her, Bai Lili couldn't close the door anytime soon, and could only let the black mist squeeze into it.

"Shen Ge, you'd better think this through!" After saying this in a deep voice, Bai Lili turned around with a cold face and wanted to leave, but she turned back after taking only two steps.

The black mist swelled and churned within the ghost realm, eventually transforming into a person. This person appeared to be in his thirties, with a handsome face that seemed like that of a banished immortal, exuding an otherworldly aura.

"I never expected the renowned Venerable Reincarnation to look like this. I thought you were an old man," Shen Ge said with a light laugh.

"Appearance makes no difference to me. If I want to, what appearance can't I conjure?" The Venerable Reincarnation smiled, his eyes constantly scanning this world, clicking his tongue in amazement, "Tsk tsk tsk, a complete small world, you're quite something. I wasn't even confident I could create one."

Those secret realms and grotto-heavens between heaven and earth, apart from a very few that were generated by heaven and earth, are all spaces isolated from the main world and cannot be called small worlds at all.

"You've seen it all. So, are you interested in joining? I can give you a fiefdom." Shen Ge said calmly, though his gaze on the Venerable Reincarnation held a hint of amusement.

Bai Lili frowned and said coldly, "No way, I don't want any more danger around me."

"Yin and Yang, Yin and Yang in harmony, wonderful indeed." The Venerable Reincarnation's eyes darted back and forth between Shen Ge and Bai Lili, a look of admiration gradually rising on his face. "I always thought you were just one person, but I never imagined there were actually two of you."

"Alright, see me out. I've had a great time; I need to study it carefully."

With a wave of her hand, Bai Lili opened the portal and kicked the Venerable Reincarnation out. At the same time, she used her divine sense to probe the heavens and earth and confirmed that no backup plan had been left behind. Only then did her expression gradually improve.

"Shen Ge, you've gone a bit too far." Bai Lili glared at Shen Ge and said coldly, her anger finally showing. "Do you know that once he locks onto this world, when his true form descends upon it, it will be utterly destroyed!"

"Alright, none of that matters. You should now assist me in my cultivation."

"What did you say?!" Bai Lili's expression changed slightly, seemingly shocked by Shen Ge's change in demeanor.

Is this why he sealed his memories? Without those interfering memories, he can act with peace of mind, right?

Immediately, Bai Lili's lips curled into a slight smile, and she said in a melodious voice, "Okay."

Since you dare to seal away her memories, then she dares to let them completely perish. She wants to make these memories disappear forever. Then, Shen Ge will belong to her alone, and no one will be able to shake her mind!

Outside, atop a desolate mountain, the Venerable Reincarnation, a cultivator in the Body Integration Realm, had just completed the splitting of ten thousand soul fragments. His face was as pale as paper, as if he would die at any moment.

Indeed, he was, after all, an avatar, and didn't have much of his own soul. Now that another ten thousand avatars had split off, it almost caused this avatar to vanish into thin air.

After infusing the Samsara energy he obtained from Shen Ge into it, the Venerable Reincarnation's handsome face curled into a cold smile, "Ten thousand years of fighting, I'm really looking forward to it. I didn't expect such an interesting thing to happen so close to ascension. Lord of Reincarnation, I'm determined to have your Dao!"

With each player's ten thousand fragments of soul dissipating, this chess-playing gamble officially begins. Who will emerge victorious? Who will have the last laugh?

In Azure Vastness Province, at the Azure Origin Palace, amidst a sea of Qingshan and flowers, an exceptionally handsome man lay on a boulder, fan in hand, with a plate of melons and fruits beside him.

If an outsider were to see this, they would surely gasp in surprise, for the plate of fruits and vegetables was entirely composed of eighth-grade spirit medicine, all rare treasures in this world.

Suddenly, the handsome man looked up at the sky, raised an eyebrow, and began to calculate.

"Strange, how did the future landscape of the cultivation world change? It seems to have become more expansive. Could it be that the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi will experience another major explosion?"

"Forget it, why bother with all this? I'm about to ascend to the Immortal Realm anyway, let the younger generation worry about these things."