With these distractions continuing behind them, the group eventually returned to the Crown Prince's courtyard.
The atmosphere had changed. What had earlier been a palace audience now looked more like a prepared arena.
Servants had already cleared the central space and marked a large battlefield grid across the stone courtyard using inked lines and small boundary flags.
The formation was unmistakable to anyone familiar with noble war-games.
A Life-and-Death Chess board. On one side, the Crown Prince's men stood in disciplined formation.
On the other side, attendants waited with matching seriousness. And at the center of it all, the "pieces" of the game were being assembled.
Twenty-eight men stood under the Crown Prince's command, already assigned positions and ranks according to the structure of the match.
Luo He arrived last, as always calm, hands behind his sleeves, as though he were simply attending a casual performance rather than stepping into a sanctioned game where human lives were the pieces.
The Crown Prince stood at the far end of the courtyard, watching everything with controlled anticipation. "Let it be recorded," he said calmly, "this will be played under Life-and-Death rules."
A faint tension rippled through the gathered officials. There was no turning back after this point. The board was now set. The pieces were chosen. And the consequences were absolute.
Luo He stepped forward slowly. "Black," he said simply. The Crown Prince smiled faintly. "White." It was decided.
Then came the selection of champions.
Luo He turned slightly toward Jin Mulan.
"You will be my queen," he said casually, as if assigning a familiar role in a routine strategy.
Jin Mulan did not hesitate. She stepped forward immediately. "No objections," she said calmly. The Crown Prince meanwhile, gestured toward his side.
A woman stepped forward quietly, his half-sister Ning Lang also the Twelveth Princess. She had to obay the prince under the threat that her relationship with her body guard won't reach the emperor.
She did not speak much, but her presence alone carried the refined stillness of someone raised entirely within imperial structure and discipline.
"She will serve as my queen," the Crown Prince stated.
The contrast between both queens was immediate. One stood like a blade. The other like a sealed jewel. Next, Luo He turned his gaze toward Fei. "You," he said lightly, "rook on the king's side."
Fei gave a small bow. No hesitation.
No question. He simply stepped into position as instructed. Then Luo He looked around the remaining gathered attendants.
"I require eight volunteers." He shouted. Silence followed. No one moved at first.
The weight of what "volunteering" meant in a Life-and-Death match was understood too clearly.
Participation was not symbolic. Once placed on the board, a person could be captured, injured, or killed without legal consequence, depending entirely on the outcome of the match.
For a moment, it seemed no one would step forward. Then money spoke louder than fear. One by one, a group of soldiers stepped forward. Not nobles. Not elites.
Regular troopers.
Attracted by the promised reward of one hundred gold per soldier. A fortune.
Enough to change an entire family's life.
Fear did not vanish but it was replaced by necessity. Luo He accepted them without comment.
The Crown Prince did not provide his own champions. He simply observed.
His expression remained calm, almost detached.
Those who participated, after all were not considered "protected" in the same way as normal soldiers. Once on the board, even the weakest opposing piece could eliminate them.
That was the brutal law of Chess. No exceptions. No mercy rules. Only outcome. The final arrangement completed itself. Black versus White.
Luo He's side assembled like a deliberately chosen pattern of controlled unpredictability. The Crown Prince's side formed like a rigid imperial formation.
And between them the courtyard itself felt less like a palace space and more like a sealed battlefield waiting for the first irreversible move.
Luo He glanced once across the board.
Then smiled faintly. "Now," he said softly. "Let the game begin."
The two leaders finally stood across from one another at the prepared chess board. There was no ceremonial pause. No additional speeches. Only a silent acknowledgment of the rules already agreed upon.
Then they shook hands. The moment their hands separated, the match began.
A wooden chessboard had been placed at the corner of the pavilion. Between the two, polished and precise.
Yet alongside it, beyond the courtyard, the real battlefield grid mirrored every move with grim accuracy. Each piece moved on the board was immediately replicated by living formations outside.
Luo He understood one simple truth speed decided survival in games like this. The faster he ended it, the fewer variables the Crown Prince could weaponize. And lower the life cost.
1(e4 e5
2(Nf3 f5
3(Nxe5 Bc5
4(exf5 Bxf2+
5(Kxf2 Qh4+
6(g3 Qd4#
So he committed immediately to a brutal, pre-calculated line. No wasted motion. No unnecessary sacrifice. Just a clean collapse of the Crown Prince's position in six moves.
Step 1 :— Luo He planned the game in his head before the crown prince even began playing. This is the easy part.
Step 2 :— The next step is to bait the crown prince to do the exact moves Luo He intended him to. That is the hard part.
Crown prince started with the casual move e4 Luo He responded with e5 as usual. The Crowned Prince defended his pawn with a knight.
Luo He moved to f5, then suddenly, he looked like he regretted it. It was all for step two of the plan.
Luo He feigned a costly blunder, letting his hand linger above the board just long enough to invite doubt. His voice carried a careless amusement.
"Win this match, and I'll give you Jin Mulan." He said proudly. The Crown Prince gave no response. His expression did not shift as he calmly moved his knight forward.
Luo He chuckled softly. "Though she'll probably break your neck on the first night." He leaned back, watching for even the slightest reaction.
"Still… you're a clever man, Brother. I'm sure you have your own methods of dealing with her martial arts." Luo He said curiously.
Silence.
The Crown Prince simply completed his move as if the words meant nothing at all. In his mind, while Luo He searched for cracks in his composure, the he had quietly taken the piece he truly wanted.
But that was Luo He's intension all along.
Unfortunately the Crown Prince is too deep in to the threads of Luo He's illusions to truly notice his mistake.
On the board, it was nothing more than carved piece to be sacrificed for victory, but in real life it was a human life.
Steel tore through flesh in a single savage motion, carving a brutal gash across the soldier's chest.
Blood spilled over the courtyard as the man representing Luo He's pawn collapsed soundlessly at the feet of the Crown Princes charging horseman.
No glory. No final words. Only the cold certainty of death. The Crown Prince withdrew his hand from the chessboard with the same calm indifference one might show after brushing dust from a sleeve.
Then without looking up, Luo He spoke softly. "A pawn is not that valuable." Luo He said confidently. He moved his Bishop to c5.
And just like that he had already moved on a step further along his pre set plan. The Crown Prince responded with fxe5.
And somewhere in the real space of the courtyard, consequences of their actions followed without hesitation. Luo He sat calmly, eyes lowered slightly toward the board.
The Crown Prince mirrored him from across the table. For a brief moment, both appeared almost peaceful.
The the Crown Prince begins to relax. In his eyes he was totally dominating. He grows a little reckless and begins a conversation.
The Crown Prince leaned back with cold amusement, his fingers resting lazily upon the armrest as though the battlefield before him were nothing more than dust beneath his feet.
"Perhaps," he said with a cruel smile. "I will end up owning your wife after all."
His gaze sharpened with wicked amusement.
"I will get help from a powerful Devine being whose strength is feared through our the kingdoms. He will easily cut through every tendon in her arms and legs.
Once they are severed, her fingers will never again close around a weapon, and her legs will never support her weight. She will never walk again. Nor will she ever fight back.
A cripple fit only to crawl when summoned." His voice lowered into something far darker. "And whenever boredom finds me, I will make use of her however I please."
The hall fell deathly silent. Yet Luo He did not react. No rage. No trembling hand. No outburst. Only the faint sound of wood striking the board.