The legendary fallen Soul Dream Master appeared in the great hall of the Golden Gate Ruins. Could it be that he had also been to this place?

Tian Fangfang spoke carelessly: “Looks like this is a blessed land! So many big shots have all been here? Why don’t we all take another look—maybe we can recognize a few more familiar faces.”

As if to confirm his words, immediately after, another person’s voice rang out.

“Isn’t this War Emperor Wu Lie? Can’t be wrong! I’ve seen his portrait before. This set of Taixu armor—there’s only one in all of Duzhou!”

“This looks like Venerable Qingyuan. Back then, the Venerable fought ancient demon beasts to protect the people, lost both eyes, but thereby opened his Heavenly Eye and gained the ability to glimpse heavenly secrets. They said he’d been missing for years—turns out he also came here. Hiss, this is made too realistically.”

Rongshuang stopped before a small statue of a woman. This woman was born with heroic bearing, her long hair tied in a neat topknot, her forehead covered with a bright red headband, her smile bright and cheerful. Below her rode a golden phoenix, gazing spiritedly at everyone with divine radiance.

“…Imperial Spirit Fairy.” She was somewhat moved.

Zanxing’s heart stirred.

She knew of Imperial Spirit Fairy—Duzhou’s Spirit Master, with the highest cultivation, commanding all beasts. She was also the one who had revitalized the once-declining Beast Taming Sect.

Duzhou hadn’t heard news of the Imperial Spirit Fairy for a very long time. It was said that years ago, when she was taming the Immortal Divine Dragon, she was swallowed by the dragon, her bones scattered to nothing.

If Spirit Masters didn’t ascend, their deaths were mostly like this. Others had no way of knowing whether this news was true or false. In the vast Duzhou, with its countless people, one person’s appearance and disappearance weren’t that important. A single pebble thrown into a ten-thousand-zhang deep pond could hardly stir up waves.

But what about one pebble, ten pebbles, a hundred pebbles, or even thousands of pebbles?

The densely packed small statues in this hall filled the empty great hall. The statues’ features were lifelike, their expressions varied, vivid, and realistic. At a glance, it seemed as if hundreds of big shots were all placed here, engaged in lively discussion.

“What place is this exactly?” Rongshuang murmured.

Why could small statues of those Duzhou big shots who had either disappeared or ascended all be found in this place? Some of these statues were of people they recognized, some were of people they didn’t recognize, but what they had in common was perhaps that these people’s cultivation would not be too low. Each one, if they walked out, would be a genius capable of intimidating an entire region.

Perhaps, they were also geniuses closest to the upper realm.

The pillars at the four corners of the great hall firmly supported the azure sky. At the very front stood a sword-shaped, rectangular stone tablet. This tablet was entirely jade-white, inscribed with three large golden characters: Immortal Ascension Platform.

These characters were also carved elegantly—at first glance, they seemed to make one feel as if about to ascend to immortality.

“Immortal Ascension Platform?” Bujiang pondered for a moment. “Could this place be the land of immortal ascension? Are all these people those who have already ascended? Did they all come to this place before ascending?”

The connection between the human realm and the immortal realm was the Golden Gate Ruins, so just as carp transforming into dragons must pass through the Dragon Gate, before ascending, one must first come to this place.

“That’s not right.” Gu Baiying reminded, “There isn’t a single name on this stone tablet.”

Zanxing’s gaze focused.

When she was in Li’er Kingdom, she had seen a similar merit tablet that recorded and depicted the achievements of successive rulers. Now, the stone tablet of this Immortal Ascension Platform was empty.

This was a wordless tablet.

Could it be that none of them had ascended?

But if they hadn’t ascended, why did all these people leave small statues in this place? Could there still be some invisible danger before this Immortal Ascension Platform? They were only one step away from ascension, yet failed at the crucial moment, unable to achieve the great Way?

The sound of water seemed to be getting louder.

Those torrents cascading down from the nine heavens turned into insubstantial smoke and dust in the hall, leaving not a trace of water. Yet Zanxing felt that in her heart—no, it should be throughout her limbs and bones-a strange warm current flowed. This warm current was extraordinarily similar to the aura coming from above. That feeling of being summoned grew stronger and stronger.

The silver lion beside her suddenly let out a low roar, as if discovering something, and leaped past Zanxing’s feet.

Caught off guard, Zanxing stepped back two paces and happened to step into a space among the squares in the hall.

These squares all contained small statues of cultivators, except for the one under Zanxing’s feet, which was empty.

At this very moment, the clouds and mist in the sky above instantly darkened.

As if all light had faded away in an instant, as if the colors on an ink painting had been roughly erased, boundless ink-black surged around them. Rolling black clouds pressed down on everyone’s heads, while infinite brilliant starlight emerged in the azure sky.

The firmament above suddenly became a night sky.

Countless gorgeous stars filled the pitch-black canopy, long winds scattered the flames, illuminating heaven and earth.

The universe was extraordinarily magnificent, with myriad stars floating and sinking.

Rivers and a starry sky merged into one.

“This is…” Fu Ronghua gasped.

Those beautiful golden lights burned in the night sky—looking carefully, where were these stars? They were golden chess pieces.

All sounds ceased. These nine layers of clouds were a massive, boundless chessboard hidden above everyone’s heads.

Those twinkling stars were all chess pieces on the board, arranged in perfect order. They floated above the darkness, gazing sharply at the people under the night sky.

“This place… is the Chess Game of the Imperial Platform,” Rongshuang murmured.

This was the Chess Game of the Imperial Platform?

This was the heaven and earth chess game that had once made wagers with immortals, allowing cultivators to win the immortal method for flood control?

The chess game—or rather, the starry sky—hung quietly above people’s heads, endless and boundless. It had been so since ancient times. Regardless of changing seas and mulberry fields, regardless of worldly vicissitudes, the stars in the eternal night remained forever unchanged, forever brilliant and dazzling.

The Chess Game of the Imperial Platform—they had found it.

Everyone gazed up in shock. The starlight shining from ancient times filled their hearts with irrepressible awe. As if the flames of this chessboard were so dazzling, so scorching and oppressive that people dared not look directly at it.

Zanxing felt that the lingering aura within her body suddenly found infinite resonance at this moment. From somewhere in the night sky without starlight, in the black waves, golden light streams trickled down onto her body, rapidly drilling into her. As soon as that golden light stream entered her body, countless surging vital forces immediately emanated from everywhere.

Her eyes saw everything.

She saw the rivers rushing down everywhere in Duzhou. She saw Lixiu River with its rolling waves beneath Gufeng Mountain. She saw people everywhere fleeing for their lives, desperately climbing to higher ground. She saw the prosperous cities shattered by giant waves and sunk to the bottom of lakes.

She saw a mother holding a child, looking helplessly at the ruins of her home and crying.

She saw farmers reluctant to abandon their fields staying behind, finally swept away by floods, along with the old yellow ox, too aged to move.

She also saw Gufeng Mountain and Heishi City—those originally impregnable mountains and cities that, in the towering waves, were like tiny mayflies, barely visible.

In the firmament, countless people’s spiritual energy became invisible streams of water, continuously flying toward this chessboard, like brooks flowing into the sea, unstoppable.

Zanxing closed her eyes.

That golden light within her seemed to finally find the existence of the Xiaoyuan Pearl. From Zanxing’s body, it suddenly emitted a burst of dazzling light. These rays of light, like dancing dust, wrapped her tightly within them. From afar, she looked like a star in heaven and on earth.

Below her feet was an empty square; above her head was the magnificent chessboard of the night sky.

“Zanxing…” Gu Baiying’s brow twitched violently.

The woman stood at the center of heaven and earth. Gentle night winds swept up her long hair, as if the years had always been thus for thousands of centuries, and as if she had always belonged in this place.

This position had been born for her all along.

She became the brightest star in this vast expanse of sky.

She became a chess piece on the board.