Chapter 1668: Nimble Chess Set

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the Rising Sky Mansion district, even though Xu Jing, the Young Mansion Master of the Rising Sky Mansion had gained quite some fame, it was mostly because of his identity.

In terms of strength, he was no match for the Flowery Monk and Jing Xu Zi at all.

Apart from that, in terms of the same stage, he was no match for Zhong Gu either.

In the Dao Martial Saint Land where the strong ruled, such action from Xu Jing would surely evoke displeasure from many people. Furthermore, he was as famous as the Flowery Monk and Jing Xu Zi.

In the crowd’s eyes, the reason the achievements Xu Jing had today was merely thanks to his identity.

If it were not for his blessed identity, he would be nothing and might not even be able to enter the top ten in the Rising Sky Rankings.

Upon hearing the discussion of the majority of people in the Nimble Valley getting more and more wanton, the expression on Xu Cen, the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion’s face turned grave at once.

Usually, he would have long overawed the others by force and make them all shut up.

However, now that the powerhouses of the other two fourth-rated forces were here, the strongest powerhouse from either of the forces was not inferior to him. Therefore, though he was enraged by the discussions around, he did not do anything.

In the end, Xu Cen still could not help but announce, “Our Young Mansion Master of the Rising Sky Mansion has gone out for some training. Of course, he’ll show up in this Rising Sky Rankings Battle. Thanks for your worries, everyone.”

The moment he opened his mouth, his voice that contained True Origin spread out and passed through the entire Nimble Valley. Everyone heard him.

At once, most of the people who were originally talking about it clammed their mouths one by one.

They could hear that the fury in the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion’s tone.

Of course, a small fraction of people seemed to know that with the people from the two other great fourth-rated forces here, the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion would not dare to do anything, so they still continued to whisper among one another.

As for the contents of their whispering, every sentence of theirs was related to Xu Jing, the Young Mansion Master of the Rising Sky Mansion.

Among the group of people to the left of the Rising Sky Mansion people, the old man, who was also the leader, looked at Xu Cen with a grin as he said, “Elder Xu Cen, it looks like the Young Mansion Master of your Rising Sky Mansion is prepared to show himself after the Rising Sky Rankings Battle starts.”

This old man was garbed in green and held a cane. His eyes that had turned into slits looked gentle and affable, like the old man next door.

Upon hearing that, Xu Cen could only flash an awkward smile. “It looks like it.”

“The two of you, let’s go to the side to take a rest first.” Pointing to one of the picturesque nooks in the Nimble Valley, Xu Cen gestured to the old man in green and the leader of another group of people. His tone was polite and he dared not slack at all.

Be it the old man in green or the other man, both of them were from the fourth-rated forces. Their strength was not inferior to Xu Cen, the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion.

The place where Xu Cen pointed to was where Elder Jiu of the Rising Sky Mansion had occupied.

The three great fourth-rated forces began to rest in the Nimble Valley as such.

‘There are two other great fourth-rated forces — the Sky Hurdle Mansion and the Raging Wave Mansion.’ Duan Ling Tian did not know much about the powerhouses of the two other fourth-rated forces who were presiding the Rising Sky Rankings Battle. Nonetheless, when it came to these two fourth-rated forces, having been in the Rising Sky Mansion district for a long time, he had heard of them before.

The Sky Hurdle Mansion and the Raging Wave Mansion were powerful fourth-rated forces that were just as mighty as the Rising Sky Mansion. They were just adjacent to the Rising Sky Mansion.

The Greenwave Han Mansion was located in the district of the Sky Hurdle Mansion.

‘I can’t see through that the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion at all. He’s most likely an Eminent Saint Stage powerhouse, and an extraordinary Eminent Saint Stage one on top of that,’ thought Duan Ling Tian to himself as he watched the silhouette that soon disappeared before his eyes.

In the face of Xu Cen, the Grand Elder of the Rising Sky Mansion, Duan Ling Tian obviously felt a certain amount of pressure. This pressure was even more immense than the pressure he felt when he first met Han Zheng Tian, the Mansion Master of the Greenwave Han Mansion.

As a conclusion, he was almost certain that Xu Cen, the Grand Elder of the Greenwave Han Mansion’s strength was more powerful than Han Zheng Tian.

After the powerhouses of the three great fourth-rated forces, including Rising Sky Mansion, had settled down, the leaders of the Brahma Temple, Pure Yang Shrine and another fifth-rated force each went up one by one to pay respects, as though they feared that some unexpected calamity would fall on them if they slack.

As a fifth-rated force, though its strength was notable, it was nothing in front of the fourth-rated force.

Evening gradually faded away and night fell.

At this moment, Xu Jing, the Young Mansion Master of the Rising Sky Mansion had still not appeared yet.

Hovering above a peak in the Nimble Valley, Duan Ling Tian, who did not raise much attention, frowned unnoticeably and thought to himself, ‘Does Xu Jing really plan to show himself after the Rising Sky Rankings Battle starts?’

In fact, the purpose he came this time was Xu Jing.

Now that he had not seen Xu Jing yet, it was normal for him to feel slightly in turmoil.

As midnight came, even though there were many people in the Nimble Valley, it gradually quietened down and nobody spoke anymore.

It was silent for the entire night.

Early morning the next day, when the sun rose from the east, almost everybody already was wide awake and they flew up into the air.

A loud bang reverberated. It turned out that an old man from the Sky Hurdle Mansion had raised a hand and pointed his cane to the sky in the middle of the Nimble Valley.

At that very instant, the sky quaked. Ripples that looked like waves appeared and spread out wave by wave before it gradually swept out.

“What’s he doing?” Upon seeing this, Duan Ling Tian was stunned.

The next instant, he saw the leader of the Raging Wave Mansion also start to make his move.

He was a bald, stout man dressed in blue. With a raise of his hand, a simple and unadorned gigantic hammer appeared in his hand. The gigantic hammer swept through the sky and crashed toward the sky at the middle of the Nimble Valley.

The final target of the gigantic hammer was where the old man in green from the Sky Hurdle Mansion had pointed at with his cane just now.

Both of them struck the same area.

In the sky, the ripples that were originally spreading out like waves began to crumble abruptly after it was hit by this hammer.

At that second, a crack appeared without warning in that piece of sky in the middle of the Nimble Valley. The crack got bigger and bigger, sending chills down Duan Ling Tian’s spine. ‘What’s actually going on?’

Actually, apart from Duan Ling Tian, many people were also shocked by the scene in front of them. Of course, some were not surprised by this at all.

These people were those who had experienced the Rising Sky Rankings Battle before. They had either participated in it before or watched from the sidelines before.

‘Oh, so it’s the effects of a formation!’ Soon, Duan Ling Tian realized that the shocking scene that he just witnessed was merely the illusory effects of a formation.

To be more precise, the sky in the middle of the Nimble Valley was part of the illusion itself.

As the powerhouses from the Sky Hurdle Mansion and the Raging Wave Mansion made their move, both of them broke the Formation and created cracks in it, displaying everything behind the formation completely.

After everything behind the formation was finally revealed, the scene that appeared right before everybody’s eyes was a chessboard that was continuously expanding. At first, the chess pieces were just ordinary size in their eyes, but after a few moments, they turned to become as huge as a fist.

Then, they transformed to become the size of an adult.

In the end, the size of each chess piece became so huge that hundreds of people could stand on one of them.

At that moment, the chessboard and the chess pieces on the chessboard stopped expanding.

‘We’re in an Illusory Formation!’ When Duan Ling Tian returned to his senses from his bafflement, he realized that he had appeared on a chessboard that stretched out to as far as the eye could see. Beneath his feet was a massive chess piece. It would be no problem for 200 people to stand on it if they were willing to cram with each other.

Taking a deep breath, he looked around and after realizing that there was no end to the chessboard, he raised his head again.

Above him was an overcast sky. The dusky sky pressed down, as though it was trapping him and the rest of the people on the chessboard.

“This is the Nimble Chess Set.” Right at this moment, a voice reverberated by Duan Ling Tian’s ears, stunning him.

“The Nimble Chess Set!”

Soon, from the whispers of some of the people, he finally learned what the boundless chess game in front of his eyes was. It turned out to be a Nimble Chess Set in the Nimble Valley.

Of course, the so-called Nimble Chess Set here was actually a type of Illusory Formation.

At the same time, the Nimble Chess Set was also the stage for the Rising Sky Rankings Battle. As a matter of fact, the Nimble Valley had gotten its name because of the Nimble Chess Set.

Duan Ling Tian only learned about all of these now.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

As two ear-piercing sounds resonated in the air, he narrowed his eyes and looked over. He saw that the old man from the Sky Hurdle Mansion and the bald, stout man from the Raging Wave Mansion had both risen up to the sky. In just the blink of an eye, they hovered high in the sky looking down at everyone.

Even then, a majority of people in the vast Nimble Chess Set had not returned to their senses yet. The scene in front of them made them dumbstruck.

Among the crowd, this was the first time a majority of them came to watch the Rising Sky Rankings Battle.

“Everyone, due to the ancestral rule set by our ancestor, our Sky Hurdle Mansion will send somebody to preside the Rising Sky Rankings Battle that takes place every 50 years. This time, the person that our Sky Hurdle Mansion has sent is me,” declared the old man holding the cane in a loud voice.

Despite his ancient appearance, his tone was full of vigor, completely unlike the voice of a hoary, old man.

“I’m called Ren Zhong, the Vice Mansion Master of the Sky Hurdle Mansion. You can either call me Vice Mansion Master Ren or Elder Ren,” the old man continued to add.

As the words left his mouth, the scene undoubtedly burst out in a commotion.

The Vice Mansion Master of the Sky Hurdle Mansion!

Most of the people in the scene did not know the Sky Hurdle Mansion very well as they were from the Rising Sky Mansion district. On top of that, it was hard for them to come into contact with a force that was at the level of the Sky Hurdle Mansion.

Of course, even though they could not come into contact with such a force like the Sky Hurdle Mansion, it did not mean that they were completely clueless about them either.

In their opinion, as a fourth-rated force, the Vice Mansion Master of the Sky Hurdle Mansion would be no different from the Vice Mansion Master of the Rising Sky Mansion in the Rising Sky Mansion district. He was a person who held quite a stalwart position.

“I can’t believe that he’s actually the Vice Mansion Master of the Sky Hurdle Mansion,” many people mused.

The old man appeared to be very ordinary, to the point that it had never crossed their minds that he was actually the Vice Mansion Master of the Sky Hurdle Mansion. To them, this was a great person who was out of their reach.