Translator: CKtalon
This Chess Soul looked much more elegant than the one attached to the elder. Furthermore, the Essence Energy fluctuations on its body were stronger.
He sat by the river bank with a stone chessboard and Chinese chess in front of him. When he saw Zhou Wen and company walk over, the Chess Soul said faintly, “If you want to go up Mt. Chinese Chess, you have to pass me first.”
“We aren’t going up Mt. Chinese Chess. We are just passing by,” Li Xuan said.
“If you wish to go up Mt. Chinese Chess, you have to pass through me first.” The Chess Soul repeated this sentence mechanically as though it was the only thing he could say. It was like an extremely unintelligent robot.
“Grandpa Chen, what’s Mt. Chinese Chess?” Zhou Wen asked the elder beside him.
“I’ve never been to Mt. Chinese Chess. I only heard from the elder when I was young that there was a Mt. Chinese Chess in the nearby mountains. Legend has it that there was an ancient general who once fought an immortal by the river. In the end, the immortal was defeated by the general and flew away in embarrassment. The immortal even abandoned his chessboard and chess pieces. Therefore, the chessboard and chess pieces turned into Mt. Chinese Chess,” the elder said after some thought.
“From the looks of it, it’s because Mt. Chinese Chess has become a dimensional zone that the surrounding area has changed. These Chess Souls are only protecting Mt. Chinese Chess,” Zhou Wen said after some thought.
Li Xuan narrowed his eyes and said, “They are guarding this place and not letting people go to Mt. Chinese Chess. Doesn’t that mean that there are treasures there?”
“Even if there are treasures, it has nothing to do with us. With our chess skills, I’m afraid we won’t be able to go up the mountain.” Zhou Wen didn’t know how to play chess, so he wasn’t interested in anything on Mt. Chinese Chess.
“All treasures in the world belong to those who are fated. Since we’ve encountered it today, if we don’t take it, we might be struck by lightning.” Li Xuan was very interested.
“Even so, you have to have the ability to win the game. Don’t tell me you plan on letting me fight my way up? If there’s a Mythical Chess Soul, my ability might not be effective.” Zhou Wen was telling the truth. Supreme Hell King had Epic strength after all. Who knew if it would be effective against a Mythical Chess Soul.
Furthermore, Mt. Chinese Chess was odd. Perhaps there would be some special taboos. When the time came, Zhou Wen wouldn’t be able to use two things at the same time. He couldn’t use sinflames when dismissing the taboo, nor could he dismiss the taboo when using sinflames. That would be troublesome.
“There’s no need for you to fight. Watch me. Let these Chess Souls know how powerful I am.” The workings of Li Xuan’s mind was a mystery as he confidently walked towards the opposite bank.
After Li Xuan crossed the river, he saw the space on the other side immediately turn odd. It was as though an ancient power had descended and enveloped the space on the other side.
Li Xuan calmly sat opposite the Chess Soul and really began playing with it.
“Is President very good at chess?” Feng Qiuyan asked in puzzlement.
“I’ve never seen him play before,” Zhou Wen said as he spread out his hands.
Li Xuan sat opposite the Chess Soul casually as though he thought nothing of it. As he played chess with the Chess Soul, he played with his phone.
Zhou Wen glanced at his phone screen and immediately knew why Li Xuan was so confident. This fellow had actually used his phone to play a game of man versus machine at the Grandmaster level.
He played the Chess Soul’s move against the Grandmaster-level AI on the phone. Then, he used the Grandmaster-level AI’s moves against the Chess Soul.
The facts proved that even a dimensional creature like a Chess Soul wasn’t as smart as a computer. Li Xuan actually defeated the Chess Soul.
After a while, the Chess Soul was out of moves and fell into a deadlock.
Bam!
The Chess Soul’s body exploded and a dimensional crystal dropped. Unfortunately, it was only a stat crystal.
“President, your chess skills are amazing. If I had known, I would have gotten President to do it. Coach didn’t need to sacrifice so many of his Companion Beasts.” Feng Qiuyan couldn’t see what was on Li Xuan’s phone screen from such a distance, so he thought that Li Xuan’s chess skills were extremely impressive.
Li Xuan held the stat crystal and walked back. He said smugly, “How about it? Do you now know that the title Chess Sage Li isn’t called for nothing?”
“President, you are really talented,” Feng Qiuyan praised.
“Old Zhou, are you convinced?” Li Xuan asked Zhou Wen again.
“I think it’s more appropriate to call him Grandmaster Li,” Zhou Wen said.
Li Xuan laughed. “Indeed, I can’t hide it from you. However, can’t you pretend not to know and let me be smug for a while?”
“What’s going on?” Feng Qiuyan asked in puzzlement.
Li Xuan showed the phone to Feng Qiuyan, who immediately understood. However, he still praised, “President, you are really smart. You actually thought of this move.”
“Of course. Back when I was born, a fortune-teller said that I had a halo above my head...” Li Xuan was even more smug.
The few of them continued on their way. Every time they encountered a Chess Soul, Li Xuan would use his phone to fight it. Every time, he would defeat the Chess Souls and even have several dimensional crystals drop.
Zhou Wen used his phone to look at the stats of the dimensional crystals and roughly knew that they were at the Legendary or Epic stage. They weren’t that strong.
However, as long as they entered the Chess Soul’s range, the Chinese Chess dimensional zone would activate. Unless one defeated them in chess, there was no way to kill them.
Only someone like Zhou Wen who had special attribute abilities could kill the Chess Soul in an aberrant situation.
Li Xuan won consecutively as the few of them slowly passed through the mountainous area. However, along the way, they didn’t see the elder’s father. The Chess Souls they encountered didn’t possess anyone.
Even when they arrived at the mountain village the elder mentioned, they didn’t encounter his father.
“Grandpa Chen, from the looks of it, your father is probably no longer around. What are your plans? We can take you to a nearby city,” Li Xuan asked the elder as they rested in the village.
“I’m already at this age. There’s no point in going out. It’s best I stay in this mountain village,” the elder said after some thought.
“By the way, Grandpa Chen, where’s the Mt. Chinese Chess you mentioned?” Li Xuan asked again.
“It’s over there. Follow this mountain path and you’ll see it. Mt. Chinese Chess is very special. You’ll recognize it at a glance.” The elder pointed the way.
After Zhou Wen and company bade the elder farewell, they continued on their way. Along the way, they encountered a few Chess Souls, but none of them were a match for the computer. They were defeated by Li Xuan.
“Is that Mt. Chinese Chess?” Li Xuan pointed ahead.
Zhou Wen and Feng Qiuyan looked over and saw a strange mountain in front of them. Just as the elder had said, it was squarish and resembled a chessboard.
What was even stranger was that there were sounds of a battle coming from the mountain. It was as though an army was fighting an intense battle on Mt. Chinese Chess.
However, Zhou Wen used Truth Listener to observe the top of Mt. Chinese Chess, but he didn’t discover any troops. There was only a black-robed Chess Soul sitting in front of the chessboard.
And above the chessboard was a strange cocoon.