In this world, the art of chess reaches the heavens!
A move can summon wind and thunder, a formation can transform into dragons and tigers, and with a single thought, a master chess player can lay out a formation and determine the fate of the world! Chess sects look down upon all living beings, while ancient clans and noble families hold the secrets of the game.
Chen Jie is a rough laborer who clawed his way out of a remote mining pit. He cannot read a single character, let alone play chess.
All he has is the strength to split mountains and shatter stone, and a pair of eyes that can spot the “death lines” in ore veins even in the dark. He calls it “the knack that keeps me alive.”
To save his dying sister, he enters the “Silent Dead Mine,” where ancient taboos lie buried, and witnesses a game of gods and demons spanning time and space! On the verge of a mental collapse, he finds only a single black chess piece lying cold in his palm, smooth as jade and threaded with blood-red veins.
When he enters the sacred chess sect “Xuanping Sect” in search of medicine...
A gifted chess player places a piece. Celestial cranes and auspicious clouds circle the board, its aura shifting in myriad ways. Amid the crowd's applause, Chen Jie sees only a glaring, precarious “death line” on the crane's neck!
His “knack for staying alive” roars within him!
He knows no standard openings and understands nothing of chess theory. Relying on a miner's instincts, he swings the bloodstained stone piece and, with brute force like earthfire roaring, **smashes it down as if breaking open an ancient, unyielding ore deposit!**
Crack!
The crane cries out, and the auspicious clouds shatter! The elegant sacred hall of chess is **shaken into stunned silence by that earth-shattering blow!**
“Blasphemy! Heresy!” the elder roars.
Chen Jie grins, showing white teeth dusted with mine grit. “Chess? I don't know a thing about it! But if you want to crush my sister's life, **you'd better ask the ‘pickaxe’ in my hand first!”
