Reborn as a Hatrack in the Mystical Land-Chapter 786 - 36: Break Formation and Enter the City

"You brats, feel proud for now. Against the Beastman Chess that I, the old man, have refined with Witch Soil, you’d never topple my Beastman Chess – not once, not a hundred times, nor a thousand times." Old Man Bai watched as his Beastman Chess was shattered by Yue Jinghua and the other two, first almost twisting his nose in anger but then he started to dance around crazily, making the beardless old man beside him shake his head continuously.

Yue Jinghua saw the reborn Beastman Chess, her face becoming grim.

On the other side, Ying Wuwang and Hu Li also weren’t looking too good. Beastman Chess was troublesome enough on its own, and coupled with the fact that they could not be killed or broken, even with the trio’s strong powers, there would come a moment when their Dark Power was exhausted. And even with Feng Buhui’s excellent Arrow Technique, there would come a moment when the arrows ran out and the archer was spent.

Just as Yue Jinghua was internally troubled, the Beast Chess Formation changed again. The four unkillable Beastmen Chess formed an impenetrable defense line, protecting the "Beast Nest" flag so tightly that not a single drop could leak through, disrupting Yue Jinghua’s previous strategy of directly capturing the chess pieces.

But on the other hand, Old Man Bai also noticed that the Dark Power of Yue Jinghua and the other two was indeed formidable, not any weaker than Bo Xiyu of the First Team they had seen earlier. Although the four Beastmen Chess managed to hold up the three opponents, correspondingly, they also lost their combat capabilities.

"If brute force fails, then the only option is to capture the opponent’s ’Beast Nest’ flag. The enemy’s rear is unguarded, tsk tsk, the naivety of children, not knowing the importance of balancing offense and defense. Watch the old man execute a chain-plan plot, catching you all unawares," said Old Man Bai with a sharp gaze. With a tug of light in his hand, he immediately withdrew the extra Beast Chess defending his side’s "Beast Nest", charging towards Qian Luo and Compass.

Qian Luo and Compass, being relatively weaker, seemed like a major oversight in their defense - at least in the eyes of Old Man Bai.

The four beasts advanced unobstructed, about to strike when suddenly a series of roars were heard. In an instant, a Dark Array and an Illusion Array were activated - it was Qian Luo and Qin Dongting who had set the Arrays, trapping two beasts.

"So you have placed a Dark Array at your Beast Nest as a trap, alas, the power of the Dark Array is limited and I am an Array Master. Such a level of Dark Array, I need only a quarter of an hour to solve. Even with two beasts gone, there are still two left, which are more than enough to deal with that chubby kid," Old Man Bai still appeared utterly confident.

However, he soon discovered that he had just gotten out of the Dark Array and fell right into another Illusion Technique set by the opponent.

The remaining two beasts lunged towards Compass.

But Compass was incredibly calm. Sitting atop his Elephant Beast, his body shimmered with Divine Runes, staunchly blocking the last two beasts.

When Old Man Bai finally wriggled out of the restraints of the Dark Array and Illusion Technique, all flustered and gathered the power of the four beasts to capture the opponent’s "Beast Nest" flag, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart. As he tried to figure out what was wrong, the control of the light managing the eight Beast Chess suddenly broke.

In the heat of battle, not even the onlookers like Bo Xiyu noticed that a small raised mound of earth was quietly getting closer to Old Man Bai’s "Beast Nest" flag.

Shalman was controlling the Rat Beast Chess, which was no bigger than the size of a palm, and snatched the opponent’s "Beast Nest" flag without anyone noticing.

"Darn it, I’ve unwittingly fallen into the trap of those kids," realized Old Man Bai as he saw defeat was imminent. He then looked at the members of the Third Team who were revealing victorious smiles, only then did he realize that he had been outplayed.

From the very beginning, Yue, Ying, and Hu had been the most eye-catching, naturally drawing Old Man Bai’s attention to them.

After the activation of the old man’s Witch Origin Soil dolls, the consecutive challenges posed by the Dark Array, Illusion Technique, and the amazingly defensive Compass all captured the attention of the bearded elder. Throughout the entire process, there was only one figure that seemed inconspicuous from the start—the girl who controlled the Rat Beast—she was constantly overlooked by everyone else.

The faint presence of the Rat Beast was easily ignored even within the Beast Formation, not to mention by the elder who was engrossed in battle. By the time the elder realized what had happened, it was already too late.

When the "Beast Nest" was captured, it signified a complete defeat.

Shalman was also in a state of disbelief; she had done nothing more than simply follow Yue Jinghua’s instructions—when no one was paying attention, she took advantage of the Rat Beast’s stealth to easily secure victory.

"Did we really win?" Shalman still couldn’t calm her Divine Soul down even after being sent out of the Beast Chess Formation; not until the number "one" also appeared on her ring did she truly believe that she, the most unremarkable person on the battlefield, turned out to be the greatest hero of the battle.

"Shalman, I’ve always told you, the essence of Beast Fighting Chess is not about direct confrontation of the strong, but about using the weak to overcome the strong, triumphing with less by leveraging more," Yue Jinghua said with a smile, her words seeming effortless, though she too had been sweating bullets, having no idea that an unknown Array Master could craft four indestructible Beastman Chess pieces.

Thanks to the tacit cooperation of Qian Luo, Qin Dongting, and Compass, they bought enough time for Shalman’s camp. From this episode with the Beast Chess Formation, it’s clear that teamwork is far more effective than individual heroism.

While speaking, Yue Jinghua silently approached an unremarkable-looking stone and stomped down hard with her foot, shattering the stone. She had long noticed something fishy about this small stone on the wasteland.

As the illusion in front of her shattered into dust, a variety of bizarre expressions emerged on the wrinkled face of the bearded elder—anger, annoyance, hesitation, and rage.

"Aaah! To think that I lost, those damn kids, not even fully grown and they’ve ruined my Chess Formation," after being stunned for a moment, the bearded elder was so furious that he began to beat his chest and stamp his feet in place.

"Old Man Bai, you lost. Can’t you see that from the start, those people had already planned everything? You’ve been played," the smooth-chinned elder said with a chuckle, comforting his old companion.

"It must be luck, how could anyone beat me," Old Man Bai said through gritted teeth, feeling annoyed, for his status in Four Symbols City was unique, and he had never encountered a match, whether in that place or on the chessboard.

"Old Man Bai, stop being ridiculous. It’s about time; we both need to activate the last few Transmission Arrays and lead people into Four Symbols City," said the smooth-chinned elder before disappearing with Instantaneous Movement.

The bearded elder sulked for a while longer, then reluctantly activated the Chess Formation, allowing the remaining Dark Practitioners to enter one by one.

After the "Beast Nest" flag was taken, the entire Beast Chess Formation finally crumbled.

The wasteland disappeared, revealing a smooth imperial road directly leading to the magnificent Four Symbols City.