Ch 43 – A Glimpse

"Undying Demon?" Kaleido muttered, rubbing his chin while also raising his brows. He stared fixedly at the ghostly projection of an old man in front of him, curious to know more about this unknown expert.

"Hehehe, even an 'undying' demon like I would eventually face the withering of time. If only…" The old man sighed, but his voice lacked any hint of bitterness or regret, only a cold acceptance of the reality he lived in.

"By the time my inheritance is found, perhaps decades or centuries would have already passed. So, if you don't know me, then here's a little story."

As the old man prepared to speak, Kaleido already sat down on a chair that came from nowhere, intrigued to know the story of the mysterious expert in front of him.

"I was first known as Shi Liv, a bright youth with unparalleled talent in the prestigious Shi Clan," the old man said with a heavy voice, his eyes flashing with nostalgia.

'Shi Clan? Isn't that the super clan around the western part of the Central Continent? The clan that is renowned for their time path mastery?' Kaleido instantly understood one thing, the old man in front of him was a time path Gu Master and felt excited.

Time path, a path more renowned for its healing potency compared to any other path. If he were to somehow acquire a healing type Gu from time path that is fully focused on healing, then perhaps he might also obtain the title of Undying as long as he finds a method to not overuse a Gu.

Holding in his excitement, Kaleido listened attentively.

"After acquiring the attention of many envious figures in my clan, I was plotted against and fell from grace. My aptitude has downgraded down to B, my left arm was mangled and broken, and my cultivation fell from Rank 3 to Rank 1." The old monster laughed lightly as if the person he was describing wasn't him but another entity altogether.

Stroking his long white beard, Long Liv continued, "Then after I escaped into the wilderness, I managed to encounter the inheritance of a Rank 4 demonic path Gu Master, Ever Distant. Because of his inheritance, I struck gold and rose like a phoenix from its ashes."

"Using his innovative methods and mysterious Gu, I slowly developed my own legend through a path paved with blood and bones of others, and eventually…" Long Liv grinned like a devil, his demonic aura flaring like a burning flame that even overwhelmed Kaleido even though it was a mere projection of the real thing, "I gained the title of Undying."

"But under the realm of Gu Immortals, nothing is truly undying. I eventually suffered a betrayal by must own son, causing me to suffer a serious time path injury that even my personal creation, Man as Before Gu that has been raised to Rank 5, couldn't heal. Heh, that ungrateful son of mine must have already returned to Shi Clan and is living a life as some important figure by now," Long Liv remained distant and cold, indifferent to the betrayal of his own flesh and blood.

'A demonic path expert through and through. Even the betrayal of his own kind didn't make him react in any certain way, displaying a demonic heart that even I can't compare to…' Kaleido's eyes brightened, and he felt his muscle tense up as his emotions flared, 'I want… No, I need to be like him!'

'A heart that doesn't waver against the pressure of an entire world, remaining indifferent to anything and everything!' Kaleido exhaled slowly, refocusing his gaze on the projection of the demonic monster in front of him.

"After I received that injury, I eventually retreated to this remote island unexplored by anyone else and lived a peaceful life until what should be my death from old age." Long Liv finished his tale with a smile, deepening his wrinkles and making him look like a wicked fiend.

"It was a normal end to an evil life. You must be fuming at me right now, a demonic path Rank 5 expert that killed thousands or tens of thousands of life dying so peacefully. Heh, if you're like that, then you would surely die before you can even finish the second trial."

As the projection stopped speaking, the whole cavern instantly lit up with soft white light, along with the potential exit being draped in a white barrier, blocking any way of leaving the inheritance site.

But Kaleido was prepared for this, of course he would be prepared to have his life at risk when he entered the inheritance. Demonic path inheritances are unlike those of righteous path experts; in one way or another, his life would be threatened no matter what he did.

As he watched the projection move to the side, the wall ahead of him vanished like an illusion as he saw a room as big as his hotel room a century ago.

In the middle of the room, there lay a wooden board similar to chess. Besides the chess board-like contraption were two pillows that were still clean and fresh as if unbothered by the flow of time for an entire century.

Kaleido then watched the projection enter the room, sit down on one of the pillows, and looked at Kaleido.

"You know chess, right?" The old monster asked with a genial smile.

Nodding his head, Kaleido walked over to the other pillow and sat opposite the old monster. Even though he felt his heart become turmoiled in fear and excitement, he showed a calm outer appearance as if he was just playing a normal game of chess.

Unfortunately for him, he wasn't playing a normal game of chess.

"Heh, then get ready to play a game of chess that you have never played before." He grinned as Kaleido instantly felt apprehensive about whatever may come up.

"The rules are simple…"

…

By the time the old man finished explaining the rules, Kaleido already felt nervous about the game.

'It's basically a game of chess where the concept of time is massively involved. We'll each start with a Rank 1 Uncertain Glimpse Gu, a Gu that allows us to see uncertain futures that may possibly happen.' Kaleido stared at the Gu he held in his hand and quickly refined it.

'We would play for four rounds, and after each round, I'll gain the next corresponding rank of this Gu, no matter whether I win or lose. But if I lose for three rounds, I'll…' Kaleido absorbed the Gu into his stomach and stared at the confident old monster in front of him with an eager grin.

This was his chance to confront and compare his own prowess against an old monster who may have well lived over a hundred years back when he was still alive. He'll massively gain experience in the usage of Gu; experience that may allow him to live for another day longer in life-or-death situations.

'This is my chance to improve rapidly! I must restrict my dao marks if I want to challenge myself, if not, I would be throwing away this chance to the pits of the abyss.' Kaleido clenched his fist, brimming with excitement.

But as he watched the chess pieces on the board in front of him, his eyes hid a devious shrewdness to them. Laughing inwardly, he thought with a hidden grin, 'But of course, if I'm on the losing end, and my life is threatened, then I'll just have to cheat and go further ahead!'

'Only fools would go along with the rules even if their life is threatened, that's why there's an abyssal amount of fools who get to live long in this cruel world ran rampant by Gu.'

"Let's start, shall we?"

Kaleido nodded his head and watched as Long Liv move one of his pawns forward by 2 spaces, occupying the center.

'Okay, time to use this Gu.' Kaleido inhaled deeply and his eyes white irises brightened up like a weak flashlight.

Instantly, his gaze seemed to turn distant as he saw numerous scenes play out in his head. It showed visions of the future a few seconds ahead of the current point in time; some of them showed futures where he moved one of his pawns up, and others showed his pawn being eaten by Long Liv's pawn.

'So Uncertain Glimpse Gu shows many probable futures at once. Heh, it's really useless considering it's a Rank 1 Gu. Though I do wonder what would happen if my dao marks were to amplify it. Even without that, I am still seeing more probable futures compared to what it would show at Rank 1 due to the amplification brought by my extreme physique.' Kaleido scratched his chin as his perception of time seemed to slow down.

His eyes glowed brighter bit by bit as he used his quasi-Grandmaster attainment in time path to unleash a more potent effect of the Gu. After that, he used his own judgement and removed probabilities that were unlikely to happen, tidying the visions he saw bit by bit until only a few remained.

All of that happened in less than a second, and he finally moved another one of his pawns forward without a hint of hesitation.

"Decisive, are we? I expected you to be a bit disappointed at how useless the Gu is at Rank 1, but you're calmer than I first thought," Long Liv chuckled and moved one of his horses up, defending his white pawn in the center.

'Decisive? I already spent a few minutes adjusting the visions into a more streamlined version of it.' Kaleido inwardly chuckled and watched as the vision he chose split up into more branches, providing more possible futures that were to happen.

'This is more useful than I first thought. Now I don't have to visualize scrutinizing every single possible move in a game of chess and just have clear "visions" of it presented. I can remove visions that I don't need to the side, and leave only a few of the choices I'll have to pick in the limelight.'

'I can also see this being used in a fight. I can visualize every single possible move my enemy might make, even unknown Gu or trump cards, and use it as a means of gathering information. But it can only catch a glimpse for a few seconds into the future, with the maximum being 5 seconds into the future.'

'With my intuition as a quasi-Grandmaster in time path, the two paths this Gu can take is either make the visions more precise or extend the length of the vision. Heh, if I was developing recipes for it, then I would obviously focus more on the precision instead of the length. Luckily for me, my extreme physique gives an overall improvement to the functions of a Gu, meaning the maximum seconds I can see into the future is 7 seconds already!' Kaleido grinned and continued playing against the old man.

The more he played, the more streamlined the process in his head became, surprising him at how easy it was to gather the visions and use them so intuitively. 'Is this the benefit of being a quasi-Grandmaster?'

Click by click, clack by clack, his pieces developed and he became more aggressive with each move, surprising the old man. He noticed that every time Kaleido moved a piece, it only took him less than a second to make that decision and do it resolutely.

Like a pawn being controlled by a hidden existence, he watched as he fell into traps, outsmarted with every move, and his pieces were devoured by the person in front of him mercilessly.

Watching with amazement, the old monster watched as Kaleido checkmated his king, and smiled devilishly in response, "Good, good!"

"I didn't expect that my inheritor would be so great! Hahaha, perhaps a new Undying would be born in this new era!"

Kaleido watched the old monster in front of him praised him genuinely, yet Kaleido's face remained blank as he said, "Let's continue."

"Mmm!" Long Liv nodded his head, and two more new Gu landed ahead of them.

But as that happened, Kaleido couldn't help but question something that surprised him, 'Sigh, he really deserved the title of Undying Demon. Even his own projection is so great, perhaps he has also reached quasi-Grandmaster in his later years and that attainment transferred over to his projection?'

'Whew, it almost took me an hour for just a single game of chess! But outlining every single move, every single choice, and trying to predict what would happen next, it feels like…' Kaleido paused and his eyes glowed with an ominous light, 'It feels like I'm an omniscient god that can foresee everything!'

AN: This chapter has 2140 words.

I just realized how much the word ominous foreshadow. Like, every time I hint at the big brain plot I concocted, there's the word ominous just popping up from nowhere.

But you know what's more ominous? When Dolian meets AFO and experienced the terrifying might of countless quirks, and had his lust for power reach an extreme.

(February 13, 2023 – 445th day of writing)