Chapter 430: Becoming His Pawn

The words had barely finished.

A long-dead supreme voice sounded.

"Your guess is correct. He indeed had another player in the game before, and I was that player."

The Three First Immortals of Jiuzhou: "What?!!"

At this moment.

Even their two-thousand-year cultivated composure shattered completely; their faces lost all expression.

Utterly shocking!

The Long-Dead One was actually the player.

The shock of learning the truth left the Three First Immortals of Jiuzhou utterly terrified; their eyes never left the Long-Dead One, fixed upon him without blinking.

They had never once considered that the Long-Dead One might lie or joke, because it was impossible—such a joke could not be made, nor was there any need for it; lying would be meaningless.

Gulp…

The horror of the truth made Xiang Hong feel his whole body burn with dryness; he swallowed hard.

Throughout time, humanity's pursuit of Him, their guesses about the player and the game, their explorations, never ceased, for this was the ultimate secret.

The original battlefield, the conflict between future and past, the betrayal in ancient Babylonian myth—all involved the game, all arose from the player's contest.

All beings wished to know: who, besides Him, was the player?

If they knew, perhaps they could unravel the secrets of the game.

But it was too difficult. Though they now knew so much, they had not a single clue about the player.

Now, one player stood right before them; Xiang Hong felt as if in a dream, desperate to slap himself hard and see if he was dreaming.

In truth, he knew.

He was not dreaming—the Long-Dead One was truly standing right before him.

This was the player!!!!

The destined architect, the originator of the conflict between future and past,

How could they ever have imagined that the terrifying entity who viewed all beings as pawns and the world as a game board— one of them was the Long-Dead One?

Including Xiang Hong and the other two, people's impression of the player was uniform.

The player regarded all as ants, paid no heed to anything in the world; to him, all beings and the world itself were merely tools of the game—summoned at will, discarded without thought.

If one were to ask what in the world was heaven,

People would not think of the future supreme, but of the player.

Compared to the future supreme, the player was more like heaven—manipulating all beings and the world in his palm, never showing the slightest emotion, the supreme existence above all, where even the most important being in the world was but a pawn in the player's hand.

But when the game must be won, even the supreme existence could be discarded.

The player—the greatest terror in the world, without exception.

This very player, the one etched in the hearts of all beings, turned out to be none other than the Long-Dead One.

No!!

He should not be called the Long-Dead Supreme—perhaps he should be called the Long-Dead Unique…

Such an entity could never be a supreme; nine out of ten, he had surpassed the supreme and achieved the Unique!

Unbelievable.

This being before them, warm and ever-smiling, like a kind uncle, was the player who manipulated all beings and the world in his palm—until now, they could never have linked him to the player.

A smiling tiger?

A knife hidden behind a smile?

Xiang Hong and the other two shook their heads.

The Long-Dead Unique could not be a smiling tiger, for they could feel—he was not faking his smile; it was genuinely warm and kind, detectable in the depths of their souls.

If his strength was so great they could not perceive his true nature, that might be explainable—but he had no reason at all to tell them he was the player.

Such an entity would never care for beings; why would he lie to them?

It's like a human wouldn't catch an ant and then lie to it.

Since he was the player, he had no need to lie, yet he was so kind—nothing like the heartless being who manipulates all beings and the world.

Where was the mistake?

A flash of insight struck them; none in the room were fools—they instantly realized where their understanding had gone wrong.

Wrong!

The Long-Dead Unique was the player, but not the heartless one they imagined—there was only one possibility: their perception was flawed.

Humanity's understanding of the player was mistaken.

Perhaps the player never saw beings as ants, never manipulated the world.

But if the player did not treat beings as ants, then why use them as pawns and the world as a game board?

The more truth they learned, the more confused the three became.

The Long-Dead Unique had saved Su Daji because she was the last bloodline of Qingqiu—he could not be a cold-blooded being.

Then the question arose:

If the Long-Dead Unique was not cold-blooded, then why use beings as pawns and the world as a game board?

There must be some reason.

As they sank into wild speculation and guesswork, the Long-Dead Unique spoke:

"To meet is fate. You are also friends of my youngest son. I shall give you a gift."

He flicked his finger.

Three glowing lights shot forth and landed in the hands of the Three First Immortals of Jiuzhou.

The light dispersed.

Nine identical tokens appeared; their material was indistinguishable, neither iron nor stone.

"Thank you, the Fallen Supreme—oh no, the Fallen Unique One, for this gift."

They did not know what the tokens did, but that did not stop them from thanking—after all, these were gifts from the Chessmaster; how could they possibly be ordinary?

Nine?

Is this meant for all of us group members? Excluding the group owner, there are exactly nine members.

"Fallen Unique One, may I ask you some questions?"

As the Fallen Unique One was about to leave, Gao Xiang Hong could not help but speak up.

He was simply too curious—he desperately wanted answers.

Why did the Chessmaster play the game? For what purpose? And how had He replaced the Fallen Unique One as Chessmaster?

The Fallen Unique One smiled, having already sensed Gao Xiang Hong's questions, and spoke first.

"If you wish to know why the game is played, strive to grow. Become strong enough to become His pawn—and then you will know."

He paused.

He glanced at Gao Xiang Hong and the other two, then lifted a warm, amiable smile:

"He replaced me only because He was worthy. I could not defeat that one—I needed someone to carry out what I could not. Though He has already lost once, I saw hope."

He said no third sentence.

The Fallen Unique One stepped away. Though he walked slowly, casually, as if strolling through a courtyard, he vanished within a few steps—gone without trace, leaving behind only a simple, tranquil silhouette for Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian.

Long passed.

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian and the other two came back to themselves.

The Fallen Unique One's two brief sentences contained immense information—they could not help but ponder them.

"Become His pawn…"

"Was the Fallen Unique One willing to be replaced?"

"He actually lost a game before… this…"

The three stood frozen, like wooden statues.

Finally, they shook their heads. After thinking long and hard, they could not find answers—so they let it go.

"Do we keep going forward, or return?"

Jiuzhou Di Yi Xian asked.

"Let's return. We came here only to deliver the message to the Fallen Unique One. The message has been passed—there's no point staying here any longer."

…