As they walked, Venerable Moon sighed and said, "All of us are mere chess pieces. All life are chess pieces. A long time has passed since you were last out here. I'll make things simple for you."

He gave them a short explanation of all that had happened from the third to the ninth epochs.

He said, "Only now do we know that both the human race and the myriad races are chess pieces. The Torchbearers and chaos lineage are the true players. Or to be precise, this has always been a game between Human Emperor and Control King.

"Hundred Battle King, Yue Luo, and everyone else are mere chess pieces. The leaders of the Torchbearers and Control King's lineage are the true chess players."

Venerable Moon sighed and continued, "How impressive. A game of chess with all living beings. Even Daofuses are mere chess pieces. We spent a hundred thousand years fighting. Countless people died. Very few of the ancient marquises are still around. One after another, they died off. We all have our best friends and loved ones from back then. But all of them are dead because of this game of chess. But all this...is merely the result of an internal conflict...How lamentable."

The four humans had odd expressions.

Chess pieces?

All of them?

Southbrook Marquis forced himself to calm down and said, "Are you telling us that we will remain as chess pieces for the Torchbearers?"

Venerable Moon said, "I'm merely telling the truth."

He continued, "People like us are the true victims here. We refuse to believe in destiny, but we can't help but become the toys of destiny. We were all born as chess pieces. How can we resist destiny itself?"

"Fellow Daoists, we have entered into cooperation with the Torchbearers. After countless years of conflict, after losing so many people, we now have to work together. Is this not a joke? We don't even have a choice. If you have any thoughts about this in the future, you're welcome to talk with us about it. Feel free to visit us at the Myriad Race Mountain."

Snow Orchid frowned and said, "Thank you for your generosity."

Was this guy trying to incite disharmony between them and the Torchbearers? He looked at the other three and noted that they were all frowning with displeasure. It was understandable that anyone would be unhappy after hearing all that.

After fighting for so many years, someone was telling them that their fight had been pointless. They were mere chess pieces. Would anyone be happy after hearing something like that?

More importantly, the two so-called chess players were both humans. This was merely an internal conflict. Their game had even led to the deaths of over a hundred Daofuses in the ninth epoch. This was not something they could accept.

They had a lot of friends among the dead. These people had all died in a game between the Torchbearers and chaos lineage.

Venerable Moon continued, "Don't speak of this when you're back with them. The Torchbearers might have secured your return, but they will definitely remain cautious of you and keep you away from their core secrets."

This was an obvious attempt to incite disharmony.

Snow Orchid General said coldly, "Thank you for the reminder, Eclipse Moon Marquis. We understand."

This fellow was definitely not saying this with good intentions. She was worried that the Torchbearers would really remain overly wary of them. That would be troublesome to handle. Along the way, Venerable Moon remained polite toward them. As though they were friends and not enemies.

When they reached the Line Gorge, Venerable Moon said, "Is anyone here? Snow Orchid and the others are here. Please take them back and give them some rest. Apologies for the poor treatment during the past few days, my friends."

Soon, an expert with an enigmatic aura emerged from the Line Gorge.

Yet another clone of Lan Tian.

But this wasn't a weak clone. It had the strength of a Daofuse.

With a smile, Venerable Moon released the seals on the four humans before taking a step back. He said, "My friends, I apologize once again. You may leave with this friend here."

Lan Tian frowned. Their seals had been removed. That wasn't a good thing. Without their seals, they would be too uncontrollable. No matter what, there were two pseudo kings among them.

After taking a few more steps back, Venerable Moon said, "They're here. We have completed our part of the deal. But I believe you need to ask them if they're really willing to go with you...

"I believe the Torchbearers will be gracious enough to allow you to leave and find your own place to rest and recover. You are fellow humans, after all. Don't worry. We won't make things difficult for you when we come across each other in the future."

Not far away, Lan Tian merely observed in silence.

He gave Venerable Moon a long, silent stare before saying with a chuckle, "Someone who will never amount to anything."

It was unknown to whom that remark was directed.

Not bothered to say more to Venerable Moon, Lan Tian addressed the four humans, "Seal yourself back up. If that is acceptable, come over. If not, you are free to join Venerable Moon or something."

The expressions of the four humans changed.

Southbrook Marquis frowned and said, "Since you come from the Torchbearer lineage, do you know Bing Ku, Fellow Daoist?"

"No." Lan Tian answered with complete nonchalance, "Venerable Moon, let me make this clear. If these guys decide to flee, they are no longer considered a part of our deal. You are free to kill or capture them again, but it no longer has anything to do with us. We will base our actions moving forward based on how many people we get."

Venerable Moon smiled, "That is only natural."

This was merely something he did in passing. Even if the four were to still follow the Torchbearers after this, some dissatisfaction would still simmer underneath, right? And this tiny bit of dissatisfaction might even come in handy in the future.

Even if this attempt was a failure, it did not matter. It wasn't like he would lose anything doing this. Southbrook Marquis and the others continued frowning. Venerable Moon had released them, but their fellow humans were requesting them to reseal themselves. What was that?

Was it distrust?

But why bother paying for their release if these people were unwilling to trust them?

Also, the Torchbearers and myriad races were talking about them like they were products for sale. This felt rather annoying. Three of them looked at Snow Orchid, the sole human king's descendant among them. They wanted to know what she thought of this.

Snow Orchid gazed at Lan Tian. After a short wait, her aura started dropping. She sealed herself without a change of expression, making it impossible for anyone to see how she was really feeling.

Seeing that, the other three could only follow suit and do the same with resignation. They felt rather displeased.

Lan Tian smiled and grabbed the four like they were some merchandise, causing further annoyance in them. As he started moving inside the Line Gorge, he said, "Let us part here, Venerable Moon. We know our way back."

Venerable Moon smiled and remained standing outside the Line Gorge, not bothered to give chase.

When Lan Tian was finally gone, Venerable Moon said, "Fellow Daoist Heavenly Fate, what did you notice?"

Heavenly Fate Marquis emerged out of thin air. After gazing into the gorge for a short while, he spoke softly, "They won't stay inside the Line Gorge for long. I believe they are moving around through Heavenbridge Marquis. I can sense some weak spatial fluctuations inside the gorge."

Venerable Moon nodded. He inhaled deeply and said, "If nothing else, they are truly good at hiding. Looks like we can only wait for them to start moving against the chaos lineage to learn more about them."

***

Line Gorge.

Sure enough, Heavenbridge Marquis was here to pick them up.

Deep inside the Line Gorge, Heavenbridge Marquis had appeared, creating a weak ripple of spatial fluctuations around him. The moment he appeared, he clicked his tongue and said, "Yet another tunnel is exposed. Are these fellows worth such a sacrifice?"

He looked at the four and laughed, "Snow Orchid General, Southbrook Marquis, been a while."

"Heavenbridge!" Southbrook Marquis exclaimed with surprise, "You're here as well?"

He had not expected to see Heavenbridge Marquis here.

"Are you a Torchbearer as well?"

Snow Orchid General said solemnly, "You have always been in charge of guarding the entrance to the eighth level. When did you join the Torchbearers? Aren't Torchbearers comprised of only humans?"

Heavenbridge Marquis said, "Where did you learn all that nonsense? Enough, let's stop wasting time. We need to go now. We can't give them the opportunity to trace our hiding place through this tunnel."

He looked at Lan Tian and asked, "Are you coming along?"

"Not for now." Lan Tian said, "Leave without me. I'll stay here and erase all traces of us here."

"Sure. I'll go first. Don't worry. If they dare to cause trouble, I'll kill them all."

That left Snow Orchid General and the others speechless. Even after so many years, Heavenbridge Marquis was still as annoying as ever. Next, they stepped into the gate manifested by Heavenbridge Marquis and vanished.

As for Lan Tian, he started removing the traces of their presence while sighing, "I have been losing my clones at a rapid pace recently. I guess I need to step up and create even more clones."

He had lost a lot recently.

After all, his clone had been forced to self-detonate after every encounter with a powerful expert of the myriad races. They had to do this to ensure confidentiality. This was an order given by Su Yu personally.

***

Heavenbridge Marquis did not take the four humans straight to the Chaos Mountain.

Rather, he took them on a roundabout trip before meeting up with Su Yu somewhere outside the Chaos Mountain.

After picking up Su Yu, they continued traveling in silence before emerging outside the Dao Origin Land. The Venerables had just departed the Dao Origin Land after completing their search there.

Su Yu took them straight into the Dao Origin Land before tearing a rift to enter the River of Time. Under their furious gazes, he started washing them with the river.

But due to their old age, they weren't exactly ignorant. After a short moment, they understood what he was doing. Southbrook Marquis said, "Fellow Daoist, Eclipse Moon Marquis did not leave any tracker on us..."

He knew that the white-haired human before him was worried of being tracked. However, there were two pseudo kings among them. They wouldn't be so blind that they couldn't even notice a tracker on them.

But Su Yu ignored him and continued washing them with the river. After a while, a tiny Heaven Gate appeared on his forehead.

As he gazed at them, he frowned and sent a palm attack at Snow Orchid General. Alarmed, Snow Orchid General tried to react. But due to her sealed dao, she was grabbed by Su Yu before she could do anything.

But next, Su Yu pulled his hand back, as though he was dragging something out of her body. And then, she sensed her dao fluctuating slightly as something incorporeal was dragged out of her body.

With a snort, Su Yu said, "Heavenly Fate. How dare that old fart play this game with me. Fine. I will remember this."

Boom!

After crushing that strand of power, Su Yu continued studying them for a bit. When he was finally satisfied, he departed with the four in tow.