Sovereign of the Three Realms

Jiang Chen hadn’t been able to solve this “Slaughter of Immortals” setup in his past life, but that didn’t mean a solution didn’t exist for it. He had seen someone come up with a solution before, and that person had been his father, the Celestial Emperor.

The Celestial Emperor had sat across from one of his most trusted subjects that day and used a board to simulate solutions to this particular problem a countless number of times. In the end, the Emperor had displayed stunning wisdom and come up with an incredible method to solve it. Jiang Chen had sighed with absolute amazement as he watched from the side.

This matter had left a deep impression on Jiang Chen. And now that he was seeing it again, he felt a great sense of kinship. Delving into the memories of his father in his past life made a warm feeling rise in Jiang Chen’s heart.

“It looks like it’s thanks to father’s blessings that I ran into this composition on the Divine Abyss Continent. Who other than one with father’s intelligence could solve this?” Jiang Chen’s heart was overflowing with gratitude. Who would’ve known that his father would reach over from the beyond to help him? Jiang Chen no longer hesitated and began to solve the situation on the checkerboard.

He discovered that the tower seemed to be controlling the game through an unknown power. Each step it made was all very formulaic, very much like rote memorization, following the sequence that he had seen so long ago. This made things even easier for Jiang Chen; his opponent wasn’t even alive. He held a great advantage when it was a formation program controlling everything. After all, there wouldn’t be any unexpected changes. Since the other rigorously followed the sequence, Jiang Chen didn’t need to simulate any possible changes to the solution. He just followed his father’s steps and reacted accordingly.

Roughly an hour later, Jiang Chen broke through the composition through sheer memory. The moment he did so, the surroundings in front of him suddenly lightened as a pathway opened up, letting Jiang Chen proceed directly through the center of the board. As the bridge rose into existence, the checkerboard around it suddenly disappeared to reveal an empty void, like a black hole, leaving only the bridge spanning the distance between the two sides.

Cold sweat ran down Jiang Chen’s back as he watched it all happen. If he hadn’t sat down at the checkerboard just now and instead tried to barge through, there was no doubt that he’d have been swallowed by the space rift formed by the black hole. The tower of inheritance is filled with traps alright!

In the instant that Jiang Chen stepped foot off the bridge, all the restrictions in front of him vanished, replaced by clouds of light that gathered around the feet of the ancestor statue.

“Congratulations, inheritor, for the fact that you have made it here makes you the most ideal to inherit the sect’s legacy. The Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect will surely grow great again in your hands. Although this checkers composition looked like a mere game, it is actually a battle formation that we often use to defend against strong enemies who are foreign to the area. The many sects and races of the Divine Abyss Continent have faced multiple setbacks in the face of this formation. Whoever can solve this formation that takes shape here in the form of a game of checkers, only they hide within them the hope of destroying the battle formations that the enemies of outer regions are accustomed to using…”

Jiang Chen finally understood the meaning of the trial on the third level. The test of this level was pinpointed at the battle formations that were often used by foreign enemies! In his past life, it was a common sight to use a game of checkers to simulate a battle on that level, but who would’ve thought that the Divine Abyss Continent would have this level of accomplishment as well! In that moment, Jiang Chen was filled with admiration for the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect.

“The three items of inheritance from my Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect can be found within these three balls of light. The first is the Crimson Heaven Medallion. This is the medallion of the sect and our ultimate token. No matter how far away our disciples may be scattered or how far back their legacy goes, seeing this medallion is as if seeing a forefather of the sect.

“The second is the Crimson Heaven Formation Flag. This flag is one of our greatest treasures, and to possess this flag is to be able to kill enemies with a flip of your hand, summoning the winds and rain as you please. This treasure is one of the rocks we’ve been able to establish and maintain the sect upon.

“The third is the ultimate legacy—the Crimson Heaven Formation Disk. Refining this formation disk will allow you to not only simulate the ten great formations of the sect, but also allow you to control the land of the entire sect as well.”

Jiang Chen’s heart raced; this was exactly what he’d wanted to hear! This disk was the ultimate treasure of the sect. Not only could it simulate the ten great formations of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect, but it could also manipulate the sect’s territory as well. He’d be able to come and go as he pleased! Jiang Chen was delighted at the rewards. However, he wasn’t the sort to forget himself after receiving some benefits. He knew that since he’d inherited the sect’s legacy, then the person in front of him was his senior and forefather. The three clouds filled with treasure there hadn’t been placed like such without a reason behind it.

Jiang Chen immediately bowed before the treasures. “With the ancestors of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect as witness in front of me, I, Jiang Chen, do hereby inherit the legacy of the sect today. I will surely rebuild the sect in the future, revive the sect’s formations, and inherit the sect’s spirit…”

Jiang Chen looked at the treasures only after he’d completed all this. The Crimson Heaven Medallion was a token of the sect. Since he had inherited the sect’s legacy, he couldn’t reject it and so carefully put it away. There were eighteen formation flags, and Jiang Chen played with them for a bit, noticing that there were two sets of flags-one primary and one secondary.

The primary flags had been made out of wondrous materials that was noticeably of excellent quality. In Jiang Chen’s eyes, the expert who had used the primary flags had definitely been an empyrean expert who had surpassed the level of Titled Great Emperor.

The secondary flags were relatively weaker, but they were still an utmost treasure in the eyes of the current Divine Abyss Continent. Even the Upper Eight Regions might not have been able to bring out such a set of flags. Nevertheless, he put them all away with a lack of fanfare. With these flags, he felt that he would be greatly aided in setting up formations in the future, as if a tiger gaining wings.

The third item, and also the greatest—the Crimson Heaven Formation Disk. It wasn’t big, about the size of two palms, but the materials used in its creation startled Jiang Chen. Each one surpassed the secular planes and had reached the divine levels!

Even though they weren’t at a supreme divine level, Jiang Chen believed that ordinary empyrean cultivators would never have been able to refine this formation disk! He held the forefather of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect in even higher regard now. Someone capable of refining this disk was certainly no ordinary character.

“Hehe, what a pity that with my current strength, this formation disk won’t be put to full use in my hands. Even if I refine it, I wouldn’t be able to generate the ten great formations of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect. Even if I managed to somehow squeeze them out, the formations wouldn’t reach their full potential. It’d be similar to me failing to draw a tiger, and drawing a dog instead.” Jiang Chen was very cognizant of his level of strength and knew that although the formation disk was wonderful and he could refine it with his current strength in the sage realm, he was far from being able to use it fully.

“From observing this formation disk, I might be able to call upon one or two of the formations when I’m in the emperor realm, but I’d be able to deploy them at only twenty or thirty percent of their maximum strength. As for now, I wouldn’t be able to deploy even ten percent of its strength. It’d be a waste of a treasure instead.”

Jiang Chen decided that he would indeed refine the formation disk, but refrain from using it under any circumstances. He sat down without hesitation and began to start the refining process. It wasn’t entirely complicated, just one that involved erasing the original consciousness left on the disk and then putting his own imprint on it. This was a simple matter for Jiang Chen’s current level of consciousness.

He succeeded in removing the vestiges of the other consciousness on the disk in roughly three days, and branded his own mark onto it. Finally, the disk was now his own treasure, bound only to him. Although he was still incapable of summoning the ten great formations, the formations of the sect were now completely under his control. However, the great formation of the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect was exceedingly complicated, with layers, interlocking segments, and roughly a thousand large and small formations. Although Jiang Chen had refined the disk, he still needed quite some time to digest it all.

It was a good thing that Jiang Chen’s consciousness was abnormally strong, so he only spent another half month after refining the disk to thoroughly grasp all of the large and small formations within the sect. Now all of them answered to a mere thought.

Jiang Chen breathed out with a comfortable sigh after he’d completed his study. He was now certain that he could leave. After two years, he was anxious to return to his people. “Who would’ve thought that a single curious thought two years ago would confine me to this place until now? But it’s not as if this venture has been unfruitful.”

Jiang Chen didn’t regret entering the Ancient Crimson Heavens Sect. Although he’d been trapped for two years, he’d gained much. The forbidden area of the sect as well as the outskirts of Mt. Rippling Mirage were now all under his control. This was quite the wondrous feeling. “Mm, these formations had been exquisitely designed. The fact that the ancient herb garden opens once every three thousand years is actually a product of that strict and ingenious design, taking into account the appearance of sky rank and earth rank spirit herbs. The dao of formations is a great one indeed!”

The more Jiang Chen understood formations, the more he sighed with amazement.

“Hmm?” His consciousness suddenly shifted. He’d felt some ripples of disturbance more than once while he’d mentally patrolled the various formations. Since the formations were under his control, there shouldn’t have been any ripples. The presence of ripples meant that the formations were operating. Normally speaking, they wouldn’t activate unless someone blundered into them.

“What going on?” Can it be that the Regal Pill Palace is forcefully breaking through the formations in order to save me?

However, he quickly discarded that thought. The formations around Mt. Rippling Mirage weren’t something that anyone on the level of the Myriad Domain could break through. If they could, they wouldn’t have wasted the effort to hold Pill Battles every thirty years. They could just break through!

So if it wasn’t, who was it? Was it something that lived in Mt. Rippling Mirage? Jiang Chen’s curiosity was now fully roused.