What is the "Game" in the title?

The "Game" refers to both the literal chess match against Dr. Wu Cheng and the brutal, life-or-death skirmish for the Bone Sword. The chapter uses chess as a structural metaphor for all of Li Huowang's struggles.

Why did the lama from Qingqiu attack Li Huowang?

The lamas are allied with the Fa Sect. They used the vultures as a distraction to steal the Bone Sword, hoping to deny Li Huowang one of his most powerful weapons.

What is "General covers general"?

It is an unorthodox chess move where a player moves their general to directly block the opponent's general. In the novel, it symbolizes Li Huowang's strategy of beating the system from the inside, rather than playing by its rules.

What is the significance of the three-headed lama?

The three heads represent three forms of violent death (drowning, hanging, stabbing). It is a grim echo of the Ten Kings of Hell's punishments and highlights the Fa Sect's focus on a bloody, sacrificial path.

The Game

1,168 words

Chapter 624: The Game

"Still… these birds… I feel like I've seen them somewhere."

Li Huowang frowned slightly as he stared at the dead vulture on the ground, trying to dredge up a memory.

Then his expression froze. He remembered. Years ago, when he had left Qingqiu, he had encountered lamas traveling with vultures.

"Them? Those lamas from Qingqiu who presided over death rituals? But why would they ambush the Sitian Jian?"

As he pondered this, Li Huowang suddenly felt a shift in the weight at his back.

He reached behind him and his face went dark. It's broken! The Bone Sword was gone! The vultures were just a distraction! Their real target was the Bone Sword!

"My sword is gone!"

Peng Longteng appeared beside him and hurled him into the air.

From above, the furious Li Huowang frantically scanned his surroundings.

He might not have been this angry if they had simply come to kill him. But they stole his Bone Sword! He would grind the culprit's bones to dust!

"Daoist! Your sword is over there! Look!" the monk behind him called out happily, pointing.

The monk's body solidified. Li Huowang grabbed the monk's robe and yanked backward, using the momentum to launch himself in the direction the monk had indicated.

Closer. He was getting closer. Li Huowang spotted a mountain fiend wearing a Buddha mask, clutching the Bone Sword as it fled nimbly through the trees.

It had clearly trained in some technique, flipping and twisting through the forest at incredible speed.

"Keep running!"

Li Huowang ripped out his own left eye and crushed it. In an instant, a strange light enveloped the fleeing monkey, slowing it to a crawl.

Li Sui's tentacles shot out, ready to snatch back the Bone Sword, but a flash of cold light sliced through them, severing them into chunks.

A rhythmic drumbeat sounded. An old lama in a black sheepskin cloak stood between Li Huowang and the Bone Sword.

As he beat the bone-drum at his waist and spun a bone prayer wheel, he began to chant.

"Venerable Uruvilvā-Kāśyapa, Venerable Gayā-Kāśyapa, Venerable Nadī-Kāśyapa, Venerable Mahā-Kāśyapa, Venerable Śāriputra, Venerable Maudgalyāyana…"

The air filled with strange cries as a flock of pus-riddled vultures circled once more.

"I have no quarrel with you! What is this about?! Do you really think I'm still the same person I used to be?!"

Li Huowang, blood streaming from his eye socket, roared as he lunged at the lama.

At that same moment, the lama in the sky descended, crashing down toward Li Huowang.

"Knight to C5. Takes your bishop."

Li Huowang, dressed in a blue-and-white striped hospital gown, sat on a red plastic stool, frowning at the chessboard before him.

His opponent was his attending physician, Wu Cheng. Wu Cheng was playing chess while speaking into a Bluetooth earpiece.

Li Huowang pinched his rook between two fingers and slammed it down on Wu Cheng's pawn.

Slap!

The copper-coin sword in Li Huowang's hand lashed out like a whip, striking the lama. The bone-drum music broke off abruptly.

When Li Huowang finally gripped the familiar hilt of the Bone Sword, he let out a long sigh of relief.

But as he looked up, he saw that the enemy had multiplied. He was surrounded.

Not just the black-cloaked lamas, but also men in white headbands and black armbands. The Fa Sect!

"Coming out without any disguise—he'll recognize us easily."

"No matter. If we just kill him, there's nothing to fear. Let's finish this quickly."

"Check."

Li Huowang slowly raised his head to look at Wu Cheng, who wore a faint smile.

"Did you secretly hook me up to a grandmaster-level computer? I've seen this old trick before."

"Xiao Li, you don't need to worry about winning or losing. Just calm down. This is only a game of chess. Losing is no big deal."

"I really don't see what chess has to do with my condition."

"Don't put so much pressure on yourself. Maybe I just like playing chess and wanted someone to play with."

Li Huowang took a deep breath and continued playing, struggling with every ounce of his strength, desperately searching for a way to turn the tide.

"Takes the knight." Li Sui's bloody, mangled head burst through Li Huowang's abdomen, tearing through his opponent's intestines.

"Advisor to D8." Li Huowang's last remaining eye was covered by a layer of black.

"Hey! Play chess! Play chess!" A few curious patients gathered around, offering Li Huowang advice.

"Er Jiu! We're here to help!"

The cacophony of voices around him grated on Li Huowang's nerves. "Shut up!!"

Instantly, the other patients remembered who he was, and silence fell.

Li Huowang kept playing, but the game grew harder. If Wu Cheng hadn't been holding back, he would have lost long ago.

Staring at the board, Li Huowang's temper flared. He slammed his hand down on the board, about to flip it, when Wu Cheng grabbed his wrist firmly.

"Xiao Li, don't just flip the table whenever you feel like it. Some problems can be solved that way, but many cannot."

As Li Huowang glared at Wu Cheng, a hand reached over his shoulder. Five fingers picked up a rook, moved it three spaces forward, and set it down again.

Li Huowang turned slightly, surprised to see the chubby autistic boy playing.

The boy drooled, his eyes fixed on the board, not even blinking.

Li Huowang slowly released the board, letting the boy take over against Wu Cheng.

The boy played slowly, but he always managed to block Wu Cheng's checkmate attempts.

Gradually, he started taking pieces. At first, just a few pawns. But soon, quantity became quality. The tide of the game turned.

Li Huowang ripped off the saggy, aged face that was plastered over his own, fixing his murderous gaze on the old lama who had caused all this.

The old lama had transformed. Now he had three heads and six arms. Each head represented a different form of death: drowning, hanging, and stabbing.

As the bone prayer wheel began to spin again, Li Huowang didn't hesitate. He drew the Bone Sword, swung it, and vanished into the Great Qi.

Having quickly located the lama's position in the Great Qi, Li Huowang reopened the rift.

He didn't bother ambushing his opponent from the side. Instead, he crawled through the rift and burrowed directly into the lama's body.

Just as Wu Cheng moved his last advisor, the corner of Li Huowang's mouth twitched upward. He slid his general forward, covering Wu Cheng's own general.

"General to C10! General takes general!"

The old lama's strange, ancient body suddenly swelled. The next instant, tentacles of all sizes shot out from every orifice, thrashing wildly in the air.

With a bang, his entire body exploded. Li Huowang, covered in blood and flesh, bristling with tentacles, crawled out of the remains.

He shouted at the stunned Fa Sect followers before him: "Checkmate! Game over!"

—

———

The next chapter will be updated at 23:30.

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Reading Guide Decoding

Chess, Bones, and a Double Checkmate

Cultural / Xianxia Notes

This chapter is a masterclass in blending internal mental struggle with external combat, a technique often found in elite xianxia but rarely executed with such thematic tightness.

The Fa Sect (法教) means "Law Sect" or "Dharma Sect." In the novel, they are a secret cult following the Child-God (于儿神) , a deity with a terrifying, monstrous form. Their worshipers practice mutilation as a form of ecstatic sacrifice, believing that the loss of organs and flesh is not a weakness but a testament to their faith. This time around, they are accompanied by the lama from Qingqiu, hinting at an alliance between different groups of power.

The old lama's chant of the Sixteen Arhats (尊者优楼频螺迦叶, etc.) is particularly unsettling. The Arhats (Luohan) are enlightened disciples of the Buddha, often revered as protectors of the Dharma. Hearing a malevolent enemy chant their names as he spins a bone prayer wheel weaponizes the sacred against the protagonist. This is a classic horror tactic—taking something that should represent spiritual peace and turning it into a weapon of war. The three heads representing "drowning, hanging, and stabbing" are a grim echo of the Ten Kings of Hell and their specific punishments for sin.

The chess game is no mere metaphor; it reflects the Daoist philosophy of weiqi (Go) and chess, where the "battlefield" is a microcosm of the universe's ebb and flow. Li Huowang's final, rule-bending "General to C10" (将对将) isn't a cheat; it's a display of his willingness to break the system from within. In a world where true and false are malleable, even the rules of a simple game are not safe.

Sixteen Arhats (十六罗汉)

Enlightened disciples of the Buddha, often depicted as protectors of the Buddhist faith. Here, their names are chanted by an enemy, weaponizing sacred scripture.

Chapter Overview

This chapter delivers a gut-punch of raw, thematic brilliance. The Game is not just a title; it’s a structural metaphor that the novel has been building toward for hundreds of chapters. We witness Li Huowang fighting two battles simultaneously—one a bloody, occult skirmish against the Fa Sect and an old lama from Qingqiu for possession of his precious Bone Sword, and the other a quiet, psychological chess match against his doctor, Wu Cheng, on a plastic stool in a psych ward. The chapter masterfully cross-cuts between these two theaters of war, showing that whether the weapons are alchemical viscera or chess pieces, Li Huowang’s struggle is the same: a fight for control of his own board. There’s no victory lap here, only grit, blood, and the terrifying realization that the real "opponent" might just be the one sitting right across from him.

Key Plot Points

Li Huowang identifies the vultures as belonging to the death-ritual lamas he encountered years ago while leaving Qingqiu, immediately pegging the attackers.
He realizes the attack was a feint; their true objective was to steal his Bone Sword, not to kill him.
Intercut with the skirmish: a chess game in the psych ward where Li Huowang plays against his doctor, Wu Cheng, who is distracted by a phone call.
In the Dao-Twisted world, Li Huowang pursues a mountain fiend through the forest, destroying his own eye to slow its escape, but a tentacle snatch is severed by a new opponent.
An old lama with a bone-drum and prayer wheel intercepts him, chanting the names of ancient Buddhist arhats.
The battle scene merges with the chess game: every move in the ward corresponds to a blow struck in the world of swords and sorcery.
Other patients try to help Li Huowang play, but he silences them with a single command, showing his established dominance.
The autistic chubby boy takes over the chessboard from Li Huowang, playing with a strange, unworldly precision that slowly reverses the losing position.
In the Dao-Twisted world, the old lama transforms into a three-headed, six-armed avatar of death (drowning, hanging, stabbing).
Li Huowang uses the Bone Sword to slip into the Great Qi and re-emerge inside the lama's body, exploding him from within.
The chapter ends with a double-symbolic "checkmate": the chess game is won by rule-bending ingenuity (general covers general), and the Fa Sect followers are left staring at a blood-soaked Li Huowang shouting "Game over."

Reading Guide

This chapter is an absolute gem for long-time readers. The visual metaphor is tight, the pacing is relentless, and the ending delivers a catharsis that is both violent and deeply psychological. First, pay attention to how the "reality" of the chess game and the "reality" of the dao-twisted world merge—they are not separate scenes running in parallel, but one continuous experience. When the chubby, autistic boy moves the rook, it is Li Huowang who is empowered in the other world. This reinforces the core theme of the entire novel: that the Dao-Twisted world is a projection of, or an intrusion upon, the state of Li Huowang's mind.

Second, the chapter serves as a stellar example of Li Huowang's character growth. He is no longer just a desperate survivor. He is a tactician who can weaponize his own body (ripping out his eye, exploding himself inside an enemy) and his own understanding of the world's rules (using the Great Qi as a dimensional shortcut). The final line, "Checkmate! Game over!", is a declaration that he has learned to play the game, not just fight in it.

Those looking for straightforward "plot progression" might feel a bit disoriented, but this is a payoff chapter for those who have invested in the novel's mode of storytelling. It's brilliant, it's bloody, and it proves that in a world where the Heaven's Laws are broken, the best weapon is a twisted mind.

Quick Q&A

Lore recap (TL;DR) drawn from this chapter's Cultural / Xianxia Notes — same text as the FAQ structured data on this page.

What is the "Game" in the title?: The "Game" refers to both the literal chess match against Dr. Wu Cheng and the brutal, life-or-death skirmish for the Bone Sword. The chapter uses chess as a structural metaphor for all of Li Huowang's struggles.
Why did the lama from Qingqiu attack Li Huowang?: The lamas are allied with the Fa Sect. They used the vultures as a distraction to steal the Bone Sword, hoping to deny Li Huowang one of his most powerful weapons.
What is "General covers general"?: It is an unorthodox chess move where a player moves their general to directly block the opponent's general. In the novel, it symbolizes Li Huowang's strategy of beating the system from the inside, rather than playing by its rules.
What is the significance of the three-headed lama?: The three heads represent three forms of violent death (drowning, hanging, stabbing). It is a grim echo of the Ten Kings of Hell's punishments and highlights the Fa Sect's focus on a bloody, sacrificial path.