Chapter 1342: Immortal Tribulation Chess

Immortal Tribulation Chess has simple rules: each side has 20 pieces, and on a board with 12 vertical and 12 horizontal lines, you place and move pieces.

The 20 pieces are divided into three ranks: 2 Immortal Kings, 6 Immortal Generals, and 12 Immortal Soldiers.

Among them, the Immortal King is the strongest piece, with three operable commands: attack, defense, and counterattack.

Immortal Generals can only attack and defend; they cannot counterattack.

Immortal Soldiers can only attack; they cannot defend.

Each side acts once per turn; initially you can only place pieces, not move them. After all 20 pieces have entered the board, you may move pieces along the vertical and horizontal lines, but only one piece per turn.

If the distance between the sides is within one square, then at the end of the acting side's turn, all pieces can perform one action, which by default is to attack nearby enemies.

If a nearby enemy is the opponent's Immortal General or Immortal King, there is a chance to trigger the opponent's defense and counterattack effects.

If a piece is surrounded on all four sides by enemies, it is immediately captured at the end of the turn, dying regardless of how much health it has.

When a piece dies, it leaves a pile of 'Tribulation Ash' on its spot; if an enemy steps on that spot, they instantly suffer an attack, and then the Tribulation Ash disappears.

If a friendly piece steps on it, it instantly recovers half its health, and the Tribulation Ash also disappears instantly.

The sides' pieces keep fighting; the side that survives in the end is the winner.

After listening, Xiao Feng still felt a bit confused and asked, 'So what is the large amount of blood that Fellow Daoist Xue mentioned used for?'

Ximen Gou Sheng explained: 'In the Nine Provinces Immortal Realm, standard Immortal Tribulation Chess health is fixed: Immortal Soldiers have 3 health, Immortal Generals 6, Immortal Kings 9, and each attack or counterattack reduces 1 health. But here, health is based on our actual health, with attack damage fixed at 500 million; if it's below 1 billion, even an Immortal Soldier is worse.'

Xiao Feng suddenly understood.

'I see, so with my over 940 billion health, am I basically invincible?' He restored his information to its original state.

Level 415, 946.4 billion health—this left everyone stunned.

'Whoa… unbelievable, how can your health be so high?'

'Fellow Daoist, isn't this too exaggerated? Has your comprehension value exceeded ten thousand?'

'With 946.4 billion, as long as you aren't surrounded and instantly killed, you can last forever.'

Everyone was shocked; even Xue Ningzhen didn't know his health had surged to this extent—it's even more exaggerated than when he ate all the rare treasures in the Primeval World!

'Yeah, if you're surrounded you'll be instantly killed. So… can I place a piece at the board's edge, backing against the border line to avoid being surrounded?' Xiao Feng heard their words and realized a problem.

Ximen Gou Sheng shook his head: 'No, the border counts as occupied; a corner square will be eliminated if surrounded by just two enemies, so you must move.'

Xiao Feng indicated he understood.

Thus, his strength alone isn't enough to secure victory; if his 19 teammates were all wiped out, leaving 20 enemies on the board, no matter how he runs he can't escape and would be instantly surrounded and killed.

Xue Ningzhen said: 'You should play the Immortal King role; early on, all our pieces will protect you, you'll keep counterattacking, and nearby enemies will gradually be worn down. In the end, as long as there are no more than seven enemies, you have a chance to win.'

'Why seven?' Xiao Feng wondered.

Ximen Gou Sheng said: 'This is the pattern we summarized earlier; as long as it's not a 1‑vs‑7 or worse, even if we can't win we can keep running. Since each side moves one piece per turn, the chance of being blocked is low. Plus we can pick off low‑health pieces to kill them; with enough health we have a chance to win.'

Xiao Feng nodded slightly to show he understood.

The Qisheng boss tried to cheat and bully players with low health, but meeting him reversed the situation.

As long as the player can use his 19 teammates and his early efforts to consume more than 13 of the opponent's pieces, the late game will become a situation where he alone can slaughter everything.

Overall, it feels like there shouldn't be a big problem.

Xiao Feng drew his immortal sword and etched a crisscrossing chessboard on the ground, then practiced with Ximen Gou Sheng.

Ximen Gou Sheng, Xue Ningzhen, and the others had played Immortal Tribulation Chess many times, making them far more skilled than Xiao Feng.

Both sides simulated the piece game using willpower.

Ximen Gou Sheng moved first, placing a piece, but couldn't act on the first turn.

Xiao Feng placed an Immortal Soldier next to him, cutting off one point of health.

Then Ximen Gou Sheng placed another Immortal Soldier nearby; the two Immortal Soldiers hit him, reducing his health by two points in one turn.

Xiao Feng then placed another piece, surrounding the opponent's Immortal Soldier with only 2 health left; the 2‑on‑1 succeeded in taking it.

The opponent placed their third piece next to his full‑health Immortal Soldier; the two Immortal Soldiers each attacked once, killing his wounded piece and reducing the full‑health piece by one point.

Xiao Feng felt something was off.

Thus, although the side that moves first cannot act on the first turn, it's actually not at a disadvantage; the situation is the same.

Moreover, once all pieces are placed, he can move first, making offense and defense more flexible.

Sensing the situation was unfavorable, he intended to place an Immortal General.

But the two pieces in the middle had turned into Tribulation Ash, which cannot be occupied; he could only place a piece beside the line of the two ash piles, forming a surrounding posture, continuing the 2‑on‑1 and reducing the opponent's new piece to 1 health.

At this moment, Ximen Gou Sheng did not continue placing a piece beside him; instead he placed it beside a full‑health Immortal Soldier at the edge of the Tribulation Ash outside the battle, adopting a defensive strategy and abandoning the lone 1‑health soldier.

The soldier slashed once, removing one drop of the General's blood; both sides now had 7 health total—Xiao Feng had 2+5, Ximen Gou Sheng had 3+3+1.

Calculating this way, if they kept exchanging health, they should be evenly matched before the first 20 moves end.

But if they kept trading blows, the center of the board would become filled with large amounts of Tribulation Ash.

When moving a piece, you can pass through your own Tribulation Ash, but encountering the enemy's Tribulation Ash blocks you and forces you to take a hit; thus the later stage tests strategic ability more.

Also, the defense and counterattack commands after placing a piece are important factors in creating a health gap.

Being in a defense state guarantees no damage when attacked next turn.

Counterattack means you strike the opponent first when attacked; if they don't die, you then get hit by them. If you kill them first, you don't lose health.

Thus, skillfully using Immortal Generals and Immortal Kings is also key to victory.

'It's still quite complicated…'

Xiao Feng and Ximen Gou Sheng played a game, ultimately losing two pieces.

Ximen Gou Sheng said: 'In a fair match, wins and losses are usually within three pieces, not a big difference. But Qisheng doesn't follow the rules; his pieces have especially high health, and we always lose at least ten pieces to him each time, making us completely unable to contend.'

Xiao Feng couldn't help but wryly smile.

'What kind of Qisheng is this?'

'This damn thing is clearly a cheating little jerk in the exam hall!'

Fortunately, he, Xiao someone, has a lot of blood; later I'll definitely give Qisheng a good lesson!