Divine Emperor of Death

Chapter 4810  Heavenly Realm Spatial Chess

"Hmm?"

The Celestial Transcendent's fingers paused mid-air.

He came to a stop when he was going to place a piece on a strange chessboard. There were as many as nine layers, yet the players could only make one move per turn to influence the entire nine layers of the board. These boards were stacked in an overlapping lattice of light and shadow, each layer containing its own miniature board, yet bound together by invisible Laws. One move alone could ripple through all nine layers, twisting the situation in one's favor.

It was a game that Fairy Thunderblaze was also familiar with and was disturbingly adept at but only till six layers.

Heavenly Realm Spatial Chess.

At this moment, the Celestial Transcendent came to a stop, a rare hint of confusion and amusement filling his face. His eyes gleamed like distant constellations as he slowly withdrew his hand.

"What? Are you giving up this easily to be distracted during our game?"

Opposite him sat a man clad in flowing golden robes, the fabric faintly resembling overlapping dragon scales when struck by light. His posture was relaxed, almost languid, yet the space around him felt anchored, as though the heavens themselves acknowledged his presence.

Two majestic horns curved backward from his temples, appearing smooth, ancient, and unmistakably draconic. They were not decorative nor aggressive in shape, but natural and regal, carrying the weight of a lineage that had ruled epochs long before most races learned to cultivate.

He was none other than the-

"True Dragon Monarch, how can I afford to be distracted?"

The Celestial Transcendent smiled lightly and reached out his hand, placing a move on the third layer and sixth board, "It's just that little Anarchic Divergent we were speaking about just broke our karmic agreement."

"Ah! Then I suppose he's as good as dead. The heavens would honor you."

"That would normally be the case, but surprisingly, he shattered my binding and escaped." The Celestial Transcendent smilingly shook his head.

"Oh?"

The True Dragon Monarch raised his brows, his golden eyes overwhelmingly beautiful and majestic yet full of authority.

"Interesting. Not many can escape from our techniques when we personally descend to deal with them. Are you sure you did not go easy on that Anarchic Divergent?"

"Go easy?" The Celestial Transcendent chuckled, "I suppose I did when gazed at from your and the other six's perspective. However, I don't want to break the Lower Realms, you see. He was strong enough to overturn the Lower Realms, possessed an apocalyptic spirit that devours Realm Cores, and even gained the blessings of the Mythical Paragon Beast Phoenix Ancestor. You tell me if he's easy to deal with or not."

"So troublesome?" The True Dragon Monarch asked amusingly before he chuckled boisterously, "Haha. Hopefully, he chose to exit into my True Dragon Greater Realm so I can deal with him this time."

"He isn't that stupid." The Celestial Transcendent flipped his hand and brought out something from his spatial ring.

A spherical object unfurled in mid-air into a golden pagoda. There were three levels. The first top-level depicted eight realms surrounding it, the second middle-level depicted one hundred and twenty-eight realms, and the third lower-level depicted three hundred and eighty-four realms.

Anyone who was familiar with the Three-Layered structure of the universe would know that these were none other than the Sixteen Upper Realms and Forty-Eight Lower Realms under each Greater Realm. Because there were eight Greater Realms, there were eight times as many Upper Realms and Lower Realms.

And because a Greater Realm holds sixteen Upper Realms and forty eight Lower Realms, it forms a unique spatial structure known as a Galaxy, disallowing traveling from one galaxy to another unless it is done through the Greater Realm. Hence, the eight Galaxies were now plain to be seen in this construct.

"Most likely, he will choose to enter our Upper Realm Space or choose to enter the Nether Dimension. I already have a few favors in the Nether Dimension to take care of him. The other Galaxies are unlikely since their leaders will not be as understanding as me, so he will try to take a chance with me. At least, his family, who are non-Divergents, will be spared…"

The Celestial Transcendent touched his forehead and brought something out. A mote of light came out of his soul and swirled around the golden pagoda before falling into a sphere of the outer eight-point star of the Upper Realm Space. It represented the far southeastern Upper Realm of the Celestial Transcendent Galaxy.

"Hmm? The Six-Headed Hydra Upper Realm? Why did he enter there? Doesn't he have an enmity-"

The Celestial Transcendent paused for a bit before he pursed his lips and looked away.

The True Dragon Monarch blinked, "Aren't you a bit too happy you get to sweep those rotten hydras without needing to do anything?"

"What are you talking about?" The Celestial Transcendent spread his hands, "I think I'm losing this game after being distracted to this degree. I want to play another match."

"Hahaha!"

Looking at the 'solemn' Celestial Transcendent, the True Dragon Monarch broke out into laughter.

"As much as I would like to see them suffer for their crimes, I can do little since they get protected by the Hell Hydra Monarch, who threatens to poison my human realms should the hydras lose any ruling power. Any little dimensional pathway that ends up connecting our galaxies can cause a disaster since the replicas are dangerous, so I'm rather careful with dealing with them."

"Hmm." The True Dragon Monarch's expression took on a displeased outlook, "That sly nine-faced bastard was acting strange when I met him recently. He made a face that suggested that he had you in his grasp or something similar. Even his tone was ominous as he mentioned the Divine Emperor of Death would prove to be an ominous star for the human realms."

"Really?" The Celestial Transcendent smirked, flipping his hand back and storing the golden pagoda back into his spatial ring.

"As those who inherited Celestial Seeds, we can't possibly collude with Anarchic Divergents to harm the realms. But we can ignore when it's not in our jurisdiction, hmm…"

"Indeed."

The two of them adopted an amused look before the True Dragon Monarch made his move, placing a piece on the vast chessboard. The Celestial Transcendent responded with another move that struck an entire board out.

However, the True Dragon Monarch easily reinforced the pieces on another board, making its defenses impregnable.

This continued for some time before the Celestial Transcendent asked.

"So- when are you going to stop warring against us?"

"As soon as you win two more times against me," The True Dragon Monarch replied indifferently, his voice detached.

"Sigh… you're really not planning on letting me leave, are you?"

A faint chuckle escaped the True Dragon Monarch's lips, "If you want to leave, just leave, but I will win, and my True Dragon Galaxy wouldn't stop their march until they learn their lesson from you. As Celestial Seeds, we really shouldn't interfere in worldly affairs unless the foundations and the existences of the realms are at stake, but here you are, constantly looking after your human realms."

"Haha, none of us can deny that we aren't looking after our galaxies." The Celestial Transcendent's gaze sharpened, "In the end, we're just lifeforms who inherited Celestial Seeds and not innately born as Heaven's Warriors. We don't stay in our lane and keep overreaching for the sake of our race. If we continue to engage in war, might as well see it through until only one race is left standing at the apex, having seized control of the eight galaxies."

"…"

The True Dragon Monarch said nothing but simply smiled.

The fourth layer trembled violently. In an instant, all nine boards within it detonated in cascading waves, erased one after another as if swept away by a celestial tide. The destruction was absolute, leaving behind nothing but voided space.

The Celestial Transcendent responded at once.

His piece descended, and the once-impregnable defenses the True Dragon Monarch had erected earlier fractured. Golden scales shattered, laws collapsed, and the fortified board crumbled.

Neither of them took a step back, their Wills clashing as they paved a way filled with bloodshed. Right as they were playing the game, the countless battlefields around the galaxies were also filled with bloodshed, nearly mirroring their game.

Numerous cultivators and beasts clashed. The asura battlefields had opened, and subsequently, asura beings crawled out from their Dimension, causing blood to flow without end endlessly on all sides.