Bombarding Cultivators with Cluster Artillery

Chapter 1348: Chapter 1316: The Final Victor of the Heavenly Dao Chess Game

The two sides exchanged moves back and forth, and in the blink of an eye, thirty-two moves had been made by each.

At this moment, the entire Nine Spirits Realm had been covered by white pieces; the Eight Great Immortal Sects completed the unification of the Nine Spirits Realm and secured the production nodes of Magic Arts-Breaking Immortal Gold, making the radiance on their pieces even more dazzling.

This was due to the treasures of the Harmonization Divine Monarch being refined and integrated with abundant Magic Arts-Breaking Immortal Gold, which resulted in an increase in power.

Meanwhile, the Horned Ming Realm had also been completely occupied by the Xianmen Sect.

Over four hundred Minor Thousand Worlds, including one Medium Thousand World, were entirely under Xianmen’s control.

The Xianmen’s Mother Planet had been destroyed; after a period of chaotic governance, laws were passed to establish the Nine Spirits Realm as the new Mother Planet. The citizens began to proliferate rapidly, and within just a century, the population increased a hundredfold, reaching three hundred billion people, with the number of Foundation-building cultivators surpassing one billion.

As a result, Xianmen’s black pieces continued to appear out of nowhere, totaling ten more.

The generation speed of these pieces seemed to persist. As time flowed forward, as the Golden Pill and Nascent Soul cultivators among the citizens steadily increased, Xianmen’s strength would continue to grow, and more white pieces would emerge.

“Deploy the troops.”

The Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power could no longer remain idle.

Under his command, the interconnected group of white pieces was extracted. Under the gleaming light of Magic Arts-Breaking Immortal Gold, they began their assault on the Horned Ming Realm, not through the established domain pathways but utilizing alternate teleportation points, catching Xianmen utterly off guard.

The white pieces of the Eight Great Immortal Sects fell one after another.

The Minor Thousand Worlds within the Horned Ming Realm, previously belonging to Xianmen, were rapidly seized by the white pieces, ceasing their continuous flow of resources to the Nine Spirits Realm. The growth rate of Xianmen’s white pieces swiftly slowed.

If this situation were allowed to continue, predictions indicated that the increase in white pieces would completely stagnate.

Worse still, if all the Minor Thousand Worlds were lost—allowing the six hundred Minor Thousand Worlds across the two realms to be entirely seized by the Eight Great Immortal Sects—the immense cultivator population housed on the Mother Planet would have to decrease, and the number of black pieces would decrease as well.

Although the Nine Spirits Realm was a Medium Thousand World, it could not sustain hundreds of billions of cultivators across various levels.

“What should be done now?”

Yue asked.

This was a consultation of Xianmen Fleet’s collective will. Major decisions had always been made in this manner.

“Hold firm in the Nine Spirits Realm.”

“The Nine Spirits Realm has the Starry Sky World-Locking Array, has Central Array Spirit Computer Harmonization-level branches, and has a Harmonization-level Sect Protection Formation. The home-field advantage is enormous; it should not be abandoned lightly.”

“If the realm can no longer sustain so many cultivators, then gradually reduce their number, raise the standards for cultivation, and formulate new policies for cultivation.”

The Great Sun Celestial Lord, Wanji True Venerable, and others contributed their thoughts.

Outside the Nine Spirits Realm, all subsidiary forces could be abandoned when danger approached.

Xianmen reached a consensus.

The black pieces concentrated on the Nine Spirits Realm, avoiding any dispersal of forces.

“Still cowering away?”

The Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power frowned.

However, they did not rush into an attack but instead chose to construct defensive arrays outside the Nine Spirits Realm while gathering the power of six hundred Minor Thousand Worlds to establish a “Little Spiritual World” next to the Nine Spirits Realm.

This was a plan that existed in the past, during the era when the Great Sun Sword Pavilion was still prominent in the Nine Spirits Realm—a plan by the Nine Great Immortal Sects to artificially create a secret realm capable of fostering and cultivating Harmonization-stage cultivators.

At this time, the eight Harmonization-stage Great Powers made a full effort, utilizing the power of over six hundred Minor Thousand Worlds, making the execution of this plan a mere matter of time.

Within just three hundred years—the time within the Heavenly Dao Chessboard—this Harmonization-level secret realm known as Little Spiritual World had taken shape.

The Immortal Sect Great Powers resided within, cross-legged in cultivation, absorbing Heavenly Earth Spiritual Qi and the essence of sun and moon. Their cultivation base began to grow slowly, proving that a Medium Thousand World was not a strict necessity.

Xianmen continued to fortify their position in the Nine Spirits Realm.

At this time, the population of Xianmen’s Citizen Fleet had dropped to around five billion. In three hundred years, a large segment of Foundation-building cultivators had died, and new Foundation-building cultivators could not be born in sufficient numbers due to resource constraints.

However, the number of Golden Pill and Nascent Soul cultivators continued to grow.

Therefore, the overall strength of Xianmen Fleet had not diminished significantly, as they remained steadfast in defending the Mother Planet, showing no intention of deploying forces.

The Great Powers of the Eight Great Immortal Sects regarded this indifferently, continuing their cultivation, training disciples, refining treasures, and rehearsing Taoist Soldiers Army Formations, without rushing into an attack.

In the passage of time, three thousand years unfolded within the Heavenly Dao Chessboard.

By this time, the population of Xianmen Fleet had dropped to around three billion. The number of Golden Pill and Nascent Soul cultivators returned to normal levels as many had succumbed to old age, given that even secret realms such as the Sleeping Hidden Realm could not sustain such numbers of dormant cultivators for extended periods without exorbitant costs in Spiritual Qi—rendering it impractical.

Notably, many Spirit Transformation cultivators had advanced to the middle and late stages of Divinity Transformation, with the Great Sun Celestial Lord advancing to the peak of Hua Shen.

Yue, Divine Machine, and eight other Refining Void-stage cultivators had also ascended to the mid-stage of Refining Nothingness, along with over a dozen Spirit Transformation cultivators ascending to Refining Nothingness.

One matter caused the Great Powers of the Eight Great Immortal Sects to frown.

The Great Sun Celestial Lord was on the verge of advancing to Refining Nothingness, potentially shifting the delicate balance.

“Attack!”

The Xuanwu Heavenly Palace Great Power declared coldly, abandoning all patience.

Eight fully consolidated auras emerged on the Heavenly Dao Chessboard as white pieces fell upon the Nine Spirits Realm.

The number of white pieces continued to increase—composed of numerous Spirit Transformation Heavenly Monarchs, Nascent Soul monks, and cultivators of the Eight Great Immortal Sects and all races—numbering in the tens of billions!

Each of them had their Divine Souls controlled and were refined into Taoist Soldiers through diabolic methods. This formed a colossal army formation of Harmonization-level Taoist Soldiers infused with Sword Qi and Sword Intent.

An army formation carrying destruction, blazing heat, and the aura of Great Sun!

The eight Great Powers melded with the tens of billions of cultivators and disciples of the Immortal Sects, forming a Sword Dao Army formation whose power instantly surged to staggering heights, advancing with crushing force against Xianmen’s Army Formation.

Pieces, black and white alike, fell one after another within the Nine Spirits Realm.

The starry sky descended into a brutal melee.

The Eight Great Immortal Sects launched an all-out assault on Xianmen’s stronghold, cultivated over thousands of years. They disregarded casualties and sacrifices, driving a horrifying attack in which every minute saw millions of all-races cultivators die, drained of their Divine Souls and Essence Blood by vast formations.

Xianmen fell into a disadvantaged position.

The Eight Great Immortal Sects’ inheritance was overwhelmingly complete and terrifying. Their strength grew exponentially over time.

Within just a few moves, Xianmen’s Sect Protection Formation had been breached.

Boom!

At this juncture, the Great Sun Celestial Lord undertook tribulation and succeeded in rapid ascension to Refining Nothingness, which caused Xianmen’s army formation power to ascend sharply. Their strikes became increasingly precise, dealing greater damage to the eight Great Powers with less expenditure of energy.

The situation between the two sides once again reached deadlock.

Every passing moment saw the life essence of the tens of billions of Taoist Soldiers of the Immortal Sects burned away, reducing the efficacy of their indispensable army formation as time dragged on.

The tides turned against the Eight Great Immortal Sects.

“Drop the piece!”

The Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power commanded coldly.

“Kill!”

The Xuanwu Heavenly Palace Great Power, Five Elements Heavenly Sect Great Power, and Wanshou Immortal Sect Great Power roared.

They simultaneously burned the Essence Blood, Divine Souls, and Mana of their human incarnations without hesitation, showing decisiveness without reluctance.

The power of the white pieces from the Eight Great Immortal Sects multiplied several times.

Step by step, they crushed the Mother Planet’s formations, obliterated Xianmen’s Billion Fleet Army Formation, and reached the location of the Central Array Spirit Computer.

Facing an enemy they’d battled for millennia, everyone fought with reckless insanity!

Bang!

Bang! Bang!

At that moment, as the Central Array Spirit Computer exploded, taking root throughout the world, hundreds of seventh-rank Forbidden Nuclear Weapons and tens of thousands of sixth-rank Forbidden Nuclear Weapons ascended skyward.

In an instant, countless scorching suns illuminated the heavens, the lights of Law-Breaking and Law-Elimination blazing across the entire world, reflecting terror on the faces of the eight Great Powers—faces locked in frozen horror.

Trapped within a world turned into a cage, there was no escape!

“Such finality…”

The Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power sighed.

Time passed—a brilliant radiance emanating from the Heavenly Dao Chessboard gradually faded away.

Amidst the shattered Medium Thousand World’s realm walls, a wasteland devoid of life remained, crushed under endless debris of the great land. Only three figures survived: the Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power, Qingmu Immortal Sect Great Power, and Five Elements Heavenly Sect Great Power.

No—not for much longer. Soon, only the Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power remained.

A counting rod appeared within the head of the Qingmu Immortal Sect Great Power, erasing all life from her body, while a hemp rope materialized around the neck of the Five Elements Heavenly Sect Great Power, snapping his neck in one swift motion.

Surrounding Great Powers involuntarily cast glances toward the Heavenly Mechanism Great Power.

The Way of Tianji had always seemed devilishly sly; this couldn’t entirely be dismissed as mere slander by the Eastern Devil School.

The Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power stood as the sole survivor, severely injured and near death.

No—not entirely alone.

In the shattered Medium Thousand World, tens of millions of kilometers away, the Great Sun Sword Master gazed coldly in this direction before flying toward the Nine Spirits Realm Mother Planet controlled by the Eastern Devil School.

There, a Dharma-Ending City was emerging.

There, the Great Sun Sword Master would acquire a seed army of citizens.

Within at most another millennium, he would expand this army to a size surpassing billions, even if it meant recruiting large numbers of cultivators from the Ten Thousand Clans to ensure the army formation reached Harmonization-level power.

In the coming ten thousand years, the fate of both realms would unfold in the balance between the Great Sun Sword Master and the severely injured Heavenly Mechanism Immortal Palace Great Power.

The Heavenly Dao Chessboard—ended.

“…”

Yue and the eight Immortal Sect Great Powers exchanged glances, their faces silent and expressionless.