“Your strength puts us all to shame,” the figure stepping out of the Seven-Star board said with a light laugh.

“I shouldn’t be the one stopping you. But the God Lord has given the order. Even if an Infinite Dao True God descended today, I would still have to fight to the death. This is the Yue God-Clan’s command. Our lives were born for the Yue God-Clan.”

Xu Zimo studied the man.

He wore a long purple robe marked with interwoven black and white chess patterns. The high collar framed his face, and his long hair spilled loosely, half of it draping down to cover one of his eyes.

So this was their plan, wave after wave to wear him down.

Xu Zimo looked unimpressed.

The man introduced himself, “I am the Seven-Star Saint Sovereign. Here between heaven and earth, I have laid out a Seven-Star chess formation. I invite you to enter and take a look.”

“I don’t like playing chess,” Xu Zimo said, grinning. “Why bother entering your board? I destroy it, kill you, and save myself the trouble. Wasting time is pointless.”

Hearing this, the Seven-Star Saint Sovereign’s tone turned cold. “Whether you wish to enter or not is not yours to decide.”

“Chess Dominion!” he shouted, sweeping his hand.

A massive chessboard manifested around him, covering the heavens as it fell. Its vast presence sealed the sky, leaving Xu Zimo nowhere to escape.

Lines spread across the board, vertical and horizontal, forming a grid that stretched in all directions. Xu Zimo and the Seven-Star Saint Sovereign became the black and white pieces placed upon it.

“I am the master of this board. I control everything.”

A strange force enveloped Xu Zimo, pulling him into the formation. Power fluctuations surged around him.

When he looked up, a rain of meteors fell from the sky. Closer inspection revealed they were not meteors at all, they were countless black and white chess pieces descending like a storm.

Every falling piece carried destructive force powerful enough to level the heavens.

Xu Zimo raised his hand. His aura surged upward, shielding the sky itself, then he punched forward. His punch shot upward like a rainbow piercing the sun, blowing a hole straight through the vault of the heavens. Millions of chess pieces shattered under that single strike.

He shifted his gaze, lifting Shadow Tyrant. The blade’s force rippled outward.

He immediately targeted the weakness of the formation.

The Seven-Star Chess was intricate beyond measure. Most people couldn’t even comprehend it, let alone find its flaw. But for Xu Zimo, a Sage Monarch, seeing through it was effortless.

His eyes narrowed.

Shadow Tyrant cleaved toward one corner of the chessboard.

A thunderous boom followed. The blade energy tore through the formation, ripping the void apart and opening a crack.

Xu Zimo stepped out of the rupture.

He looked straight at the Seven-Star Saint Sovereign. In a single step, the space behind him split into streaks of shadow as he appeared right before his opponent.

“Seven-Star Sword!” the Saint Sovereign shouted in panic.

A sword glowing with seven star-lights appeared in his hand and slashed toward Xu Zimo.

Shadow Tyrant collided with the sword. Power shook the air like a cyclone. But Xu Zimo still held the advantage, Shadow Tyrant severed the Seven-Star Sword and slammed into the Saint Sovereign.

Yet the man’s movement technique was sharp. His body dissolved into two black streaks that circled around Xu Zimo.

The black and white streaks then erupted into countless chess pieces that surrounded him. The pieces exploded, black and white detonations interlocking like opposing poles.

“Ridiculous,” Xu Zimo said.

The space before him twisted. He tore it open, not only slipping free of the blast but reappearing at the Saint Sovereign’s side.

His blade rose and fell.

With a soft sound, the Seven-Star Saint Sovereign’s head flew off. Blood sprayed as his body plummeted.

Xu Zimo followed with a kick, blowing the body apart midair.

“Let’s go. I hope the Yue God-Clan doesn’t disappoint us,” Xu Zimo said.

Behind him, Willow Ancestor and the others followed closely.

Yue City was divided into an outer and inner city. What they had entered earlier was only the outer district. The inner city was restricted to direct and collateral descendants of the Yue God-Clan.

And the Yue God-Clan was not to be underestimated. After hundreds of millions of years, the clan had grown so enormous it bordered on bloated. Originally, every Yue descendant was considered noble. But as their numbers swelled, Yue bloodline became commonplace. In the inner city, one could meet a Yue descendant just by walking down a street. In time, only the direct line retained true status, collateral branches became indistinguishable from ordinary people.

When Xu Zimo arrived at the inner city gates, he saw the wall, not tall, but heavy and thick with a grounded, oppressive aura.

Three old men sat atop it.

Their presence alone suppressed an entire region of the sky.

A closer look revealed that each of them appeared half-human, half-beast.

On the left sat one resembling a bronze lion, round eyes glaring, hair curled into tight spirals.

On the right, a red figure with a single horn on his head, looking much like the mythical Pixiu.

The one in the middle needed no description, he was almost identical to a qilin, a human body supporting a qilin’s head.

The three sat cross-legged, endless demonic qi churning around them. Their power filled the air.

When Xu Zimo approached, the qilin elder opened his eyes first.

He said with a soft laugh, “Turn back. This road leads only to death.”

“A road to send you three to death, you mean,” Xu Zimo replied with a grin.

Many hidden observers were stunned.

“It’s the Three Ancient Beasts!”

“Copper Lion, Pixiu, and Qilin, these three have guarded the inner city for millions of years. Not once has an uprising occurred. Anyone who tried to break into the inner city became one of their corpses.”

“This is getting interesting. Let’s see if the ancestor of the True Martial Sacred Ground can get past them. All three are Supreme Giants.”

While the crowd watched eagerly, Xu Zimo remained unfazed.

He leveled his blade at the three and asked, “Is this where you chose to bury yourselves?”

The three instantly erupted in fury.