NOVPUB"What are you talking about, senior? What’s wrong with me?"
"In the entire Xuanhuang World, besides me, who else would be willing to play a thousand games of chess with you?"
With a smile, the Sacred Embryo played a chess piece while asking the question in return.
However, the first move was made directly at the Tian Yuan position.
The sloppy old man’s expression changed, and he looked at the Sacred Embryo with an incredibly serious demeanor.
"You, boy, clearly have only reached the Nascent Soul Stage. Yet your ability to deduce is frighteningly strong. And you don’t even bother to hide it, sitting down next to me just like that."
"You’ve definitely come prepared!"
"I was actually somewhat happy at first, thinking I’d finally get to indulge in a proper challenge after all these years. It wasn’t until halfway through that I realized, I’ve fallen into your scheme!"
The old man sighed softly.
The Sacred Embryo simply smiled without answering.
The scruffy old man was named Thousand Seeker Daoist, a seasoned cultivator of the Unified Dao Technique who had fallen in his cultivation base due to an injury.
Somehow for his past merits to the Immortal Alliance, he actually carried a [Jade Tablet of Technique Presentation].
Of course, at this point in time, there were very few who knew about this.
In everyone else’s eyes, the Thousand Seeker Daoist was just a somewhat crazy ordinary cultivator.
It was only more than a decade later that a mortal named Xiao Sheng Guest happened to encounter the Thousand Seeker Daoist.
After sharing a life of joint begging with him for a thousand days, he was gifted the Jade Tablet of Technique Presentation.
With a mortal body, he met Yan Fajue.
He received the Unified Dao Technique and thereafter smoothly ascended the Immortal Path.
This event often became a favorite tale among later generations.
It was naturally for his Jade Tablet of Technique Presentation that the Sacred Embryo sought out the Thousand Seeker Daoist.
But a thousand days of begging were too long, so he purposefully provoked the other party into playing chess with him.
The name of the Thousand Seeker Daoist was closely related to his techniques.
Everything required a thousand to complete, and also someone’s companionship.
In playing chess with the Sacred Embryo, he was actually cultivating as well.
The only limitation was that he could not actively bring up the reasons to others, and once he completed a phase of the [Thousand Seekings] cultivation, his appearance and aura would change as if he were another person.
Therefore, everything depended on fate.
But the Sacred Embryo, Li Fan, had managed to learn about this in advance.
When the last chess piece fell, the Sacred Embryo, Li Fan, was one move short and ultimately lost to the Thousand Seeker Daoist.
"You little rascal, at least you had the sense to let me win one game."
The Thousand Seeker Daoist cursed angrily. Even though he had won, he couldn’t feel happy about it.
Once again, he flipped the chessboard over, but this time, the black and white chess pieces dissipated into the air on their own.
Meanwhile, a surge of momentum emerged from the old man’s body.
"Congratulations, senior, for you are not far from reuniting with the Dao!" Li Fan, the Sacred Embryo, said with a smile.
"What do you want?" the Thousand Seeker Daoist asked bluntly.
"The Jade Tablet of Technique Presentation."
"Get lost!" The Thousand Seeker Daoist threw the Jade Tablet at him.
Without waiting for Li Fan to respond, his figure disappeared.
The Sacred Embryo stored the Jade Tablet away, unfazed. Anyone who had lost nine hundred and ninety-nine games in a row and always seemed to be just one move short of victory would undoubtedly be irritable.
That the Thousand Seeker Daoist did not act out and teach him a lesson was already a sign of high quality.
"With the Huadao Stone to aid my deductions, there are indeed few in the world who could win against me in the art of chess," the Sacred Embryo mused, shaking his head slightly, and went to a remote and unpopulated place.
He then used the Jade Tablet of Technique Presentation.
Before this, he had already settled his identity within the Alliance of Thousands of Immortals.
So the whole process went without any surprises.
As usual, a cultivator arrived to guide him, and a gate appeared out of nowhere.
However, after a wave of dizziness, he found himself once again at the Immortal Alliance Headquarters… 𝓃𝓸𝓋𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝒸ℴ𝓶
"Hmm?"
Looking around, it was not the scene of the Immortal Alliance Headquarters.
Within a hazy sphere of light, a few figures stood.
Disconnected voices filtered through intermittently.
"With this journey, what degree of certainty do you possess?"
"I shall do my utmost, and leave the rest to destiny."
"That doesn’t sound like something you would say."
"The disparity in strength is too great, the only choice is to stake my life on this gamble."
"Enough, be on your way. Whether it is fortune or calamity, who can say?"
…
The voice of one of the figures, Sacred Embryo Li Fan found, seemed somewhat familiar to him.
Yet it was not completely identical to any one person’s.
He knew this was his first time entering the Immortal Alliance Headquarters, influenced by the Celestial Dharma Bearer, and experiencing this hallucination.
But this time, for some reason, it was different from anything his original self or any of his incarnations had previously encountered.
"Among these figures, is one the Law Transmission?"
"And what might this signify?"
Before Li Fan had time to ponder, he only felt the earth shake violently, the vision shattering layer by layer.
He left the Illusory Realm, appearing inside the Immortal Alliance Headquarters.
The guide monk was accustomed to this, briefly explained in a few words, and then continued leading Li Fan toward Yan Fajue’s location.
It was a path well-trodden, identical to past life encounters.
Not until entering the interior of the Headquarters of Law Enforcement Hall did the announcement he heard catch Li Fan off guard.
"Applicant for Yan Fajue’s use, Fan Li."
"Number: 005. Permission level: Fusion of Dao."
"Please wait here patiently, estimated remaining waiting time, three thousand six hundred twenty-three days and six hours."
Sacred Embryo Li Fan initially thought he had misheard, but after hearing it again, he jolted upright in shock.
"How can the wait be this long?"
With astonishment in his heart, he couldn’t help but speak to the empty space.
"If you are unwilling to wait, you may leave on your own accord."
"Warning, leaving signifies the relinquishment of rights to use the Jade Decree of Law Invocation."
After a brief pause, a voice replied from the space.
"I am number 005, yet I need to wait nearly ten years. Where is the sense in that?"
"It’s as if I have never used Yan Fajue before. How long does it take to advance a technique? There must be someone misusing it for personal gain!"
Sacred Embryo Li Fan was not at all timid, instead he made a racket.
He appeared insistent on getting an explanation.
Apparently unable to tolerate Li Fan’s ruckus, the voice, after a while, rang out again, icy cold.
"Due to irresistible factors, Yan Fajue’s advancement abilities are severely disrupted."
"Therefore, the waiting time is also substantially prolonged."
"We ask for the cultivator’s understanding and cooperation."
"Warning, this matter is a highly confidential issue within the Immortal Alliance, please ensure it is kept secret."
The voice warned.
Sacred Embryo Li Fan’s expression shifted slightly, but he did not soften his stance.
Instead, he exclaimed dramatically, "What? The Immortal Alliance’s foundation, a Heaven’s Oddity, the Yan Fajue has actually malfunctioned?"
"What are you people at the Law Enforcement Hall doing?"
"With such a grave issue arising, not only have you not thought of a solution, but you also intend to conceal it deliberately?!"
"There must be a traitor among you!"
"No, I must expose this to everyone!"
…
Amidst Sacred Embryo Li Fan’s shouts and protests, a figure slowly materialized before him.
Expressionless, the figure regarded Sacred Embryo Li Fan as though looking at a dead man.
Yet Li Fan’s demeanor shifted to earnest in an instant, "Let me have a look, perhaps I can find a solution."
At these words, the figure froze on the spot.
