On the mountaintop, bathed in abundant and warm sunlight, Bi Bidong and Wang Zhong sat facing each other. Before them lay a square chessboard, sparsely populated with a few black and white pieces.
In the four cardinal directions, four battlefronts unfolded. In each, the black pieces were at a disadvantage, gripped by the white pieces at their crucial points, on the verge of being crushed.
Wang Zhong, playing black, moved first. Bi Bidong, playing white, followed.
Holding a chess piece, Wang Zhong's brows furrowed. The game before him was extremely unfavorable, no, it was a dead end. Bi Bidong, with an absolute advantage, had meticulously calculated everything. No matter where he placed his piece, it would fall into one of her pre-laid traps.
Bi Bidong had already won this game, yet the match was far from over.
"As long as you still have pieces to play, the outcome is not yet determined."
These were the words Bi Bidong had spoken to Wang Zhong during a game half a year ago.
After contemplating for a long time, Wang Zhong finally placed a piece in the very center of the board.
In Go, such a move is considered the worst possible play, so bad that even beginners wouldn't make it.
But Bi Bidong did not reprimand him; instead, she nodded with appreciation.
"Indeed, when the current situation is doomed to defeat, it is best to discard it decisively and venture into a place no one expects, to create new opportunities."
"Though the casualties are heavy, there is at least a sliver of possibility and hope."
"However, young Wang Zhong, while you have preserved possibility, what about those pieces still struggling in the corners? How will you face them?"
"Each of them is fighting desperately, awaiting your command!"
Her words were gentle, as if asking a question, but Bi Bidong's move was swift. With a single placement, the situation in the upper-left corner collapsed instantly. The black pieces were annihilated, while the white pieces surged with momentum, heading towards the center.
"As soul masters and soldiers, the moment they step onto the battlefield, life and death no longer belong to them. The victor lives, the vanquished dies – these are immutable rules."
"The dead shall be buried with honor, their families cared for! The living shall be encouraged, rewarded with wealth, glory, and status!"
Wang Zhong frowned, his tone calm yet solemn. His hand, still holding a chess piece, focused on the center and placed his second move.
Bi Bidong glanced at Wang Zhong, who was engrossed in the chessboard. Her rosy lips curved slightly, and her wine-red eyes held a look of approval.
She picked up a piece and placed it in the upper-right corner. This sector of the game followed the fate of the upper-left, white winning, black perishing.
"The method of dealing with it is simple, brutal, and reasonable. However, such an outcome will not satisfy everyone. Some desire more, while others only care about living human lives."
"Rebellion will arise because of their existence."
In the upper-right corner, a few scattered black pieces were deliberately "released" by white! They seemed to have a chance to live. As long as Wang Zhong did not focus on the center and made a few more moves, he could bring them back to life.
"Hiss!"
Wang Zhong's eyes widened, and he gasped. Bi Bidong's move was utterly ruthless. If he were to expend effort, energy, and lives for those few pieces, the battlefield he had painstakingly carved out would be stillborn. If he abandoned them, those who were alive would become the source of rebellion.
Although in this chess game, there was no turning black into white, in a real battlefield, this would be the inevitable outcome!
This was Bi Bidong's method of educating Wang Zhong, projecting the chess game onto reality.
Gritting his teeth tightly, Wang Zhong's mind raced with countless thoughts. Ultimately, he reached a conclusion.
"The vanquished die!"
Abandon them, disregard them? No! It was to grant them death, to execute them!
Over the past six months, Wang Zhong had learned many traits from Bi Bidong. Ruthlessness and heartlessness were among them!
Bi Bidong smiled very happily at this answer. She greatly approved of Wang Zhong's current approach.
"Yes, this is what a qualified controller must possess: decisiveness and heartlessness."
"However, young Wang Zhong, you seem to have forgotten one thing: you are the one holding the pieces!"
"You are the one who led them into a dead end. They acted on your orders and met such a fate. What will others think? And with what will you ensure that those who obey you willingly execute your future commands!"
"How will you guarantee them that they are not disposable pawns! No one is a fool!"
Bi Bidong placed her third piece in the lower-left corner. The game was also doomed, with black pieces perishing, though one or two remained. White continued its advance towards the center.
However, after placing this piece, before Wang Zhong could answer, she asked again, "What if, the generals leading the army were Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan? What if they fought with all their might, survived a certain death, and escaped back to the main camp? Could you still strike them down?"
"If not, how will you treat the soldiers in this third battlefront who have completely fallen, as well as these few who are still alive?"
"Confusing personal and public matters, and unclear rewards and punishments, have always been the start of chaos."
Wang Zhong's hand, holding a chess piece, froze in mid-air, motionless. If such a scene were to truly unfold, his choice would have already been made.
Rebellion and war would erupt internally. The pieces in his hand, and those in the box, would no longer belong to him.
This game would once again end with his complete defeat.
With a heavy sigh, Wang Zhong placed the piece back into the box and said bitterly, "Your Excellency, I lost."
"No matter what, I could never punish Nana, Xie Yue, or Yan."
Bi Bidong nodded with a light smile, indicating she understood, and then said, "To avoid such a result, the only arrangement you need to make is to do your utmost to prevent them from stepping onto the battlefield."
"If they must, then absolutely do not let them control matters of great importance, unless someone is willing to bear their mistakes."
"You could also appoint them as deputy generals, not main generals. If a deputy general makes a mistake, the sin is not punishable by death!"
Wang Zhong nodded heavily, imprinting these words firmly in his mind, daring not to miss or forget any detail.
"How has your cultivation been recently?" Bi Bidong asked with a gentle smile.
Speaking of this, Wang Zhong's head began to ache immensely.
For a full six months, his soul power had only increased by one level!
Shaking his head, Wang Zhong propped his hands on the chessboard, resting his chin on them, and complained ruefully, "It's the same as usual. Ninety-nine percent of the soul power I cultivate is siphoned off by the little fox."
"I wish I hadn't given it that thing to eat!"
Ever since that day, when the little fox had consumed the entire set of soul bones, it had fallen into a deep slumber. No matter how he tried to wake it, it wouldn't stir. And while sleeping, it unconsciously absorbed the soul power Wang Zhong had painstakingly cultivated.
Reaching out, Bi Bidong gently stroked Wang Zhong's hair and comforted him, "A complete set of soul bones is extremely rare. Although I know of it, I have never seen it."
"The little fox is already a Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox. Having obtained a complete set of soul bones that share its origin, it is highly likely to undergo a secondary evolution when it awakens, becoming even more powerful. It's not without its rewards."
"Coincidentally, you can also use this time to consolidate your foundations. While I don't sense any shallowness, your previous progress was indeed astonishingly fast, almost worryingly so."
Recalling the things Wang Zhong had told her half a year ago, Bi Bidong was filled with awe and shock. A complete set of soul bones, plus six external soul bones – this was unheard of on the continent.
Even the Angel Soul Bones only consisted of the basic six body soul bones, and that alone was enough to make everyone incredulous and astonished. Let alone the twelve-piece soul bone set of the little fox.
"This is a set of existence even more terrifying than Angel Soul Bones! If young Wang Zhong wasn't lying to me," Bi Bidong thought to herself, rubbing Wang Zhong's head.
After all, Wang Zhong had taken her to the location of the rift, but the rift was nowhere as deep as Wang Zhong had described, reaching the bottom at only a thousand meters.
If not for the sharp, pitted holes along the edge of the rift, Bi Bidong would have thought Wang Zhong was joking with her.
Bi Bidong understood why the things she saw on two separate occasions were different. Possessing the inheritance of the Rakshasa God position and having entered the Rakshasa secret realm multiple times, she knew very well that without the qualifications and conditions for obtaining a divine position inheritance, no one could enter a divine realm.
"Nine-Tailed Celestial Fox, Ancient Beast King!"
"There exists a realm there, similar to a divine position secret realm, which only Nine-Tails can enter!"