CHAPTER 1 - THE CHESSBOARD MIND

The Spirit Ascension Academy was a living storm of ambition. Disciples ran through the training grounds, each one craving recognition, each one hungry for advancement. Strength was measured not in words but in the aura one exuded the crackle of spirit energy, the flare of one’s cultivation.

At fifteen, Luo Tian entered the academy not as a prodigy but as an enigma. Lean, sharp-eyed, and disturbingly calm, he walked through the courtyard while whispers trailed him like shadows.

“Isn’t that the Black Sovereign’s son?” one disciple asked nervously.

“Pathetic,” another replied. “Even his father must regret having such a weakling.”

Luo Tian ignored them. His eyes scanned everything the placement of the torches, the angle of the sun, even the slight unevenness in the arena floor. Every detail mattered. Every detail was a variable he could exploit.

Today was his first duel in the ranking matches. His opponent, Han Wei, towered over him by nearly a head, muscles coiled like a spring ready to strike, aura blazing with Core Awakening Realm energy two realms above Luo Tian. The crowd laughed. Some bet heavily against the Black Sovereign’s son.

“Next match: Luo Tian versus Han Wei!” The announcer’s voice rang, bouncing off the stone walls.

Han Wei stepped into the arena, smirking. “So this is the boy who thinks he can carry the Black Sovereign’s name. You should thank me for giving you a proper introduction to failure.”

Luo Tian’s lips barely twitched. He didn’t flinch. He simply surveyed the arena one last time, his mind working at speeds no normal person could follow. He calculated wind direction, the angle of the sun reflecting off the audience, the hidden runes he had etched into the arena soil days ago runes invisible to the naked eye, activated only when he stepped into position.

Han Wei charged first. The ground quaked under the force of his fist, and spirit energy radiated like a storm. The air itself seemed to bend with his power.

Luo Tian didn’t move. Not a step. Not a twitch.

In an instant, he pressed a single toe lightly on the arena floor. The runes responded. Chains of radiant spirit force erupted from the ground, wrapping around Han Wei’s arms and torso. The arena erupted in gasps. Han Wei’s muscles strained against the binding, but the chains were precise, calculated, and unbreakable.

The crowd screamed. “Trickery! Cowardice!”

But Luo Tian’s eyes were ice. His voice was a mere whisper, but it cut deeper than steel:

> “Brains are the only weapon that never dulls. Let them call me weak. When the game ends… the king is the only piece left standing.”

Han Wei roared, trying to smash free, but every move he made played directly into the trap Luo Tian had laid. He could anticipate the strikes before they even formed, read the tension in every muscle, calculate trajectory, and redirect the energy precisely where he wanted.

And then came the final move.

Luo Tian extended his hand, releasing the final seal hidden beneath his robes. The chains contracted, drawing Han Wei off balance. With a single, gentle motion, the opponent was flipped into the air, suspended helplessly. The crowd was silent, stunned into disbelief.

Han Wei, who had crushed entire academies before, now dangled like a puppet in the boy’s invisible strings.

“Power without thought is nothing. Force without precision is wasted. Even the strongest can be toppled by the one who sees the whole board.”

Luo Tian stepped out of the arena as if he had simply walked down a garden path. His mind was already calculating future opponents, analyzing every flaw he had observed in Han Wei’s style. Every bruise, every twitch, every hesitation, it was data, it was information, it was ammunition.

The audience’s whispers shifted from mockery to awe.

“How did he ?”

“That was impossible…”

“He’s just a child!”

But Luo Tian didn’t hear them. He had already moved beyond the immediate. His thoughts reached farther than the arena.

“Every duel is a lesson. Every enemy is a variable. Every misstep is a gift. I will learn faster than they can fight, see deeper than they can plan, and when the day comes… even Father himself will be nothing but another piece on my board.”

The instructors frowned. Some admired his intelligence, others feared it. He was the son of the Black Sovereign, yes but this boy was not relying on brute inheritance. He was rewriting the rules of combat itself.

As he left the arena, his eyes caught the shadow of the academy’s highest tower. Somewhere within, his father’s legacy whispered through the air, unseen but felt.

“Father… I will surpass you. And when I do, I will make you witness the son you left behind rise above everything you built. You will see… even kings can fall to a mind sharper than steel.”

The sun set, casting long shadows across the academy. Luo Tian walked silently through them, already thinking of the next move, the next opponent, the next trap. To the world, he was still a boy. But in truth, he was already a king playing a game everyone else didn’t know existed.

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