Chapter 291 - 288: War Reparations, The Dust Settles

Chapter 291: Chapter 288: War Reparations, The Dust Settles

Looking at Fang Can, the abbot spoke sincerely, "I hope Donor Fang will permit Chixiao and this old monk to depart."

As if afraid Fang Can would refuse, the abbot added:

"If Donor Fang is still worried, this old monk can bestow upon you the method to counter the Celestial Eye Technique."

The elders of the Brahma Sound Temple: ...

’We just said not to casually leak core techniques.’

’You didn’t leak the core technique itself, but now you’re leaking the method to break it, is that it?’

As if afraid Fang Can would disagree, the abbot took out a Buddhist bead and offered it over. "This contains the counter-method for the Celestial Eye Technique. Once you have learned it, Donor Fang, you must not pass it on to others."

Ji Donglai took the Buddhist bead, but the Third Turn elder to the side would not have it.

"Chixiao is the Holy Son of my Sacred Heart lineage! I do not agree to you taking him away!" the elder roared through the live broadcast.

"This child is using my temple’s Celestial Eye Technique. I have a responsibility to prevent him from wantonly slaughtering the innocent."

The abbot explained, "As long as Chixiao’s temperament passes our tests, or he cripples his Celestial Eye Technique and severs this karmic tie, we will naturally not stand in his way."

"If you are concerned that Chixiao will be mistreated at the temple, you may have the Sacred Heart lineage supervise nearby. That is perfectly acceptable."

The Third Turn elder opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say.

He had originally wanted Chixiao to display his magnificent talent before everyone, but in the end, he was basically conscripted by the folks from Brahma Sound Temple.

Besides, crippling the Celestial Eye Technique would imply that the Holy Son’s pure heart was flawed, which was of course even more unacceptable to him.

Without waiting for the debate to resolve, Fang Can had already stepped out from within Ji Donglai’s internal space.

He walked straight to the Go board where Yi Tianxing was playing and observed his opponent’s state.

On the seven Go boards before him, hundreds of moves had been played, densely packing the grids. With a single glance, Fang Can’s current skill was enough to tell that the black stones were already in an absolutely losing position.

But the state of Yi Tianxing, who was right in front of Fang Can, was what was truly terrifying!

After using Life Return, all the matter in his body was supplied to his brain, causing everything except his brain to melt into a pure energy liquid and be absorbed by it.

After these hundreds of moves, the current Yi Tianxing no longer had a human form, having transcended human comprehension.

His original appearance of white hair and a youthful face was gone. All that remained was a brain floating in mid-air, its surface covered with a dense network of gnarled, purplish-red blood vessels.

But even so, it couldn’t stop his determination to play. One black stone after another fell onto the board.

Echoes continuously resounded in the air, following his will: ’A good move! Truly a good move! It’s simply a divine play!’

Seeing his opponent’s current state and understanding that this was his Martial Dao, Fang Can naturally played along to the end, dropping white stones to entangle and strangle the black ones.

Meanwhile, inside Ji Donglai’s space, the Rotten King’s body had also finished its complete recovery.

"Man, I won the revival bracket in my showdown with the GOAT."

The Rotten King, having been restored by the reversal of time, spoke with feigned profundity.

Then, his body slowly descended to the ground, and he changed back to his original appearance.

Outside, as the stones gradually filled the board and the possibilities converged, the speed of the game between Fang Can and Yi Tianxing quickened once again.

Another forty moves later, as Fang Can placed another white stone, the seven games before them had reached a checkmate.

Sensing the state of the game, Yi Tianxing vibrated the air with his thoughts: ’Young friend, your skill at chess is god-like. This old man admits defeat...’

As his thoughts faded, he resigned the game. The surrounding black stones disintegrated, and a pillar of light descended from the sky.

Amidst the mournful cries of the Chess Pavilion disciples, seven strikes, each at the peak Fourth Turn level, landed directly on Yi Tianxing’s brain.

Without even a chance to disperse, it was instantly turned into invisible dust and vanished.

’It’s finally over.’ Fang Can let out a long sigh of relief.

Although the entire battle, from the detonation of the antimatter bomb until now, had lasted less than three minutes, every second had required intense concentration and calculation, making the perceived span of time feel incredibly long.

Now that the dust had finally settled, he could relax a little.

’But... why weren’t there any other Fourth Turn reinforcements? Are they all scared?’ Fang Can subconsciously wondered.

The answer was... yes!

After seeing that Ji Donglai still had an unknown number of antimatter bombs in reserve, the vast majority of Fourth Turns gave up any thought of sending reinforcements.

Furthermore, even Xiang Hongtu—a peak Fourth Turn with heaven-defying stats and mechanics—had been killed. The other Fourth Turns, who admitted they didn’t have that kind of power, decisively chose discretion as the better part of valor.

Of the five "mechanic freaks," including Xiang Hongtu, Fang Can and his group had killed all but one.

If these ordinary Fourth Turns joined the fray, they would just end up at the same table as the first wave of Fourth Turns who were killed by the antimatter weapons.

As for the even stronger peak Fourth Turns who were just a step away from the Fifth Turn?

They were currently conserving their strength, waiting for the upcoming Sixth Turn secret realm to open, preparing to break through to the Fifth Turn. Fang Can’s "cauldron" body was useless to them, so why would they bother with such trivial matters?

Anyway, if they had the chance to break through to the Fifth Turn in the secret realm, wouldn’t they be able to handle Fang Can easily upon their return?

Thus, under these various considerations, the strong were unwilling to act and the weak did not dare to, leading to a temporary stalemate.

And with the end of the battle, the Chronicler also disconnected the "All Eyes on Me" effect, but this didn’t mean that the image of Fang Can vanished from everyone’s eyes.

Depending on an individual’s information processing ability, the broadcast would continue to play in their minds for anywhere from a dozen minutes to several hours.

On the other side, after a patient negotiation between the abbot of Brahma Sound Temple and the Third Turn elder, the latter could only helplessly agree to go with Chixiao to the Buddhist Kingdom for secluded cultivation.

Once the negotiations were fully complete, the abbot walked up to Fang Can and said, "Donor Fang, this old monk has something to remind you of."

"What is it?" Fang Can asked curiously.

"Through Telepathy, this old monk has noticed that your state of mind is somewhat..." The abbot hesitated before continuing, "...somewhat overly obsessive."

’Er...’ Hearing the abbot’s words, Fang Can recalled that Luo Yanmo seemed to have said the same thing when he descended from Guiyun Peak.

’Am I really that twisted?’

Fang Can began to doubt his own mind, but then he thought back to his flashy yet repressed mental state in the days after he broke through to the First Turn. He immediately felt that the master was truly worthy of his title; his judgment of character was spot on.

"Donor Fang, the Martial Dao is a cultivation of the heart. If this continues, I fear you will fall into the Demon Dao, which will affect your cultivation progress," the abbot warned. "It is best to always be mindful of your mental state and not walk the path of obsession."

Fang Can nodded seriously, taking the abbot’s words to heart. It seemed he really needed to pay attention to his mental state for a while.

The abbot thought for a moment and, still worried, added, "If Donor Fang feels anything is amiss, you can come to my Brahma Heaven Temple. We can use the Heart Mirror to take a look, find the source of your inner turmoil, and prescribe the right remedy."

"No, no, that’s not necessary..." Fang Can waved his hand dismissively. ’I haven’t reached that point, have I?’

But as Fang Can had this thought, within his sea of consciousness, the jet-black sun shackled and surrounded by golden chains was currently releasing drops of black flame.

However, before the black flames could break through their restraints, they were absorbed by the golden chains, not even the slightest ripple escaping. Only pure golden light remained, strengthening Fang Can’s body.

As a reflection of Fang Can’s psyche, the black flames represented the part of him that was pure evil.

Bound by the golden chains, the black flames seemed unable to affect Fang Can for now. But one day, if the great sun were to break free from the heart’s restraints, it could turn the mortal world into a sea of fire.

In reality, after a friendly discussion between the two parties, the abbot floated away.

Ji Donglai had already washed off all the mud from his body. He now stepped forward and asked, "Are we going to continue hunting other Fourth Turns?"

"It’ll be difficult. After today’s battle, the Fourth Turns will be on guard and will go into hiding. It will be very hard for us to find them."

"Besides, if we kill too many, the Brahma Sound Temple might intervene. The effect of a Fifth Turn-level Sacrificial Artifact could wipe out your savings, Boss Ji. So it’s better to lay low for now."

"It’s just over like that?" Ji Donglai was still a bit dissatisfied. But when he recalled how Chixiao, the one he had been rolling in the mud with, was effortlessly handled by that old monk, he knew it had to be this way.

"How could it be? Of course, there have to be war reparations," Fang Can laughed.

"The monk can run, but the temple can’t. Those Fourth Turns can flee, but their Sects and nations can’t. We have to shake them down hard."

"Next, we’ll return to Great Derivation first. The Great Derivation royal family has withered. We’ve wiped out all the Fourth Turns except for the one from Jiejian Mountain. If we take over, they won’t dare to resist. In fact, they’d be happy to see it."

"Then, in the name of Great Derivation, we’ll demand compensation from all the Fourth Turns who attended the Guiyun Peak meeting. After all, my title as ’Hero of Great Derivation’ hasn’t disappeared yet. It’s perfectly reasonable and legal for Great Derivation to act on my behalf."

"When the time comes, we’ll step on those Sects that just lost their Fourth Turns and squeeze them dry. We’ll bleed them for all they’re worth. The factions that didn’t lose any Fourth Turns probably won’t step up, since what we’re doing is technically righteous."

"If they don’t compensate us, we’ll dig up their roots and desecrate their graves. Who told them to attend the meeting for no reason? Even those monks won’t be able to find fault with us."

"Aren’t we Supers supposed to have fragile bodies? We’ll make them compensate us with a few more life-saving Sacrificial Artifacts. Let’s aim to get one for every city-level and above Super. That way, this fight won’t have been in vain."

Fang Can grinned like a fox that had just raided the henhouse. Speaking of war reparations, he was so pleased that the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl up. After all, this was an endless amount of money. As the victor, he had to make a huge profit.

He then remembered the old monk’s earlier advice, and his expression became a bit more restrained. He coughed lightly and said, "Ahem, that’s the general idea. Anyway, let’s head back to Great Derivation first. We’ll proceed according to this plan."

"But... that flash of lightning from before was from Jiejian Mountain, right?" the Rotten King chimed in with a teasing smile.

"Hajican has successfully captivated a Fourth Turn with his astonishing charm."

"What are you thinking? She’s just an elder to whom I owe a debt of gratitude. Don’t spread salacious rumors."

Fang Can shook his head quickly. "I do have some entanglements with Elder Liu’s disciple, though. Speaking of which, does that make Elder Liu my older... mother-in-law?"

’But if Elder Liu is my ’older woman,’ then what does that make Xiaoliu and me?’ The thought popped into Fang Can’s mind for no reason.

’Whatever.’ Shaking his head lightly, Fang Can said, "Boss Ji, teleport me to Yan Chqing first. One month of hard control is a little short. I think I’ll subscribe her for a three-year data plan."