Volume 3 - Chapter 368: The Supreme Chessboard - Part 1
Li Hao was momentarily stunned, suspecting he had misheard. He had expected the other party to demand something else—perhaps the inheritance of the Imperial Palace, or even being led into the False Realm of Calamity.
But to think... the request was to take him as a disciple?
Puzzled, he gazed at the Supreme, unable to discern the man’s true intentions.
At the same time, another thought crossed his mind.
If Emperor Tianyang had truly defected and was guilty of such grave crimes, then why was the False Realm of Calamity still preserved?
If it were buried in ancient lands where Ancient Fiends resided and no one wanted to waste the effort, that might barely make sense.
But after he met Immortal Lord Chiying, she had led Heavenly Palace generals into the False Realm of Calamity to slay fiends. That clearly proved that they had the power to access the Ancient Fiend battleground!
And Immortal Lord Chiying was only at the Immortal Lord Realm—not even a high-tier level. Given the might of the Heavenly Palace, dispatching a few top-tier Immortal Lords—or even a few Immortal Kings—would be a trivial matter.
In the area surrounding the False Realm of Calamity, Immortal Kings would be more than enough to sweep through.
Furthermore, if they hadn’t known in the past that it was the False Realm of Calamity, then surely after Immortal Lord Chiying set foot in it, she would have reported the situation to the Heavenly Palace. Yet still, the Heavenly Palace had not taken action against the realm.
Such strangeness—when events deviate from reason, there must be a hidden motive.
Unfortunately, Li Hao lacked sufficient intelligence and information. He was confused—but suddenly, another possibility came to mind.
That line of thought stemmed from his own identity as a fisher.
Perhaps, the False Realm of Calamity had long been known to the Supreme.
Given the confirmed guilt of Emperor Tianyang, and the recognition of that by all powers now—if the False Realm still remained, it could only mean one thing:
It was a bait.
And that bait… was meant to fish for others.
As the Supreme had said, back then many great clans were implicated in Emperor Tianyang’s affairs. Many powers were drawn into the matter. In the end, they vanished—either executed or wiped out.
But… were they truly all purged?
Perhaps not. And so, the False Realm of Calamity was left as bait.
If any of those great clans rediscovered it, and took root there, secretly developing… they would eventually invite the Heavenly Palace’s annihilation.
At this realization, cold sweat ran down Li Hao’s back.
He was both a fisher and a chess player—and now, more than ever, he felt that the False Realm of Calamity was both bait and chess piece.
A setup!
The more Li Hao thought, the more convinced he became. This wasn’t some baseless paranoia—rather, the countless anomalies and contradictions led to this suspicion.
He himself was an Eleven-Stage chess player—transcendent and near-immortal. He had the ability to lay formations, glimpse strategies, and even break through them.
But now, he had fallen into the middle of a grand chessboard. A chessboard so vast that he suspected… he had become a piece.
If the False Realm of Calamity was the bait—and the Supreme had just mentioned that Chiying had reported everything to the Heavenly Palace—then clearly, this Supreme had long known who they were.
And yet… had not come looking for him.
Now, by various twists and turns, Li Hao had arrived at the Southern Domain battlefield—standing before the Supreme.
All this seemed like a natural flow of events—but Li Hao suddenly felt a hidden black hand manipulating events behind the curtain.
The stated reason for his presence at the Southern Domain war was the Great Dream Nine Abysses Sect. But Li Hao was certain—it wasn’t the doing of the Great Dream Master.
Instead… his gaze swept toward the Chu Emperor.
As the ruler of the Ancient Immortal Dynasty, could he truly have failed to deduce Li Hao’s identity?
Back in the Ancient Immortal Realm, he had displayed the Blue Sky Sword Technique. He had defeated Chu Tianzheng in front of countless witnesses. Could the Chu Emperor not have made the connection?
And yet, the man hadn’t mentioned any of it. On the contrary, he had offered his children in marriage—trying to tie Li Hao to the Yan Chu royal clan and bind him to their cause.
Li Hao considered two possibilities.
One, the Chu Emperor was truly oblivious—unable to connect those long-buried threads.
Two… it was intentional.
But if the second was true—then why?
The Chu Emperor could have easily destroyed him with a flick of the finger.
Or… was he trying to gift Li Hao to the Supreme, as a gesture of goodwill?
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