Chapter 22

Destiny Chessboard

Things had reached this point, and not playing was not an option. Ruan Ci thought this was probably the so-called opportunity for taking an apprentice. She hardened her heart and sat down opposite the old man, "Old man, I don't know how to play chess."

There were more than a dozen types of chess games popular in South Zhuzhou. The old man usually set up the animal chess that people in the Tan City area liked to play. This animal chess could be considered a strange treasure in mortal kingdoms. When playing, the pieces turned into strange beasts, biting and fighting on the chessboard, which was very interesting. The outcome was uncertain, depending on the points of the dice thrown and the quality of the pieces themselves. Because chess sets cost some spirit money, those shop assistants and rogue cultivators couldn't afford to buy them, so they would play at the chess stall after work. Ruan Ci often passed by, and the chess stall was always lively, but she had no interest in chess games and always hurried past. When she was free, she would either contemplate sword intent or ponder sword techniques. In three years, she had never patronized the chess stall once.

The old man smiled, "I know, you are very diligent, only focused on cultivation—chess is very simple. Whatever you want to play, I will teach you."

He took out one set of chess pieces after another from his bosom, like a magic trick, pearl chess, Chinese chess, Go, for Ruan Ci to choose. Ruan Ci said, "I don't like animal chess like that, the fighting is too much, it looks uncomfortable."

The old man took away the animal chess and similar chess sets. Ruan Ci said, "What is this black and white chess? It looks the simplest."

"This is Go. Has the little peddler never seen it since childhood?"

Ruan Ci shook her head, "I grew up in Song Guo. How could the people there have the leisure to do these things? When we had free time, we would chant scriptures and keep precepts. It was very boring."

"Is that so." The old man smiled and said, "Then the little peddler should see more of the world's recreational things. Only knowing how to cultivate and not knowing how to play, what is the fun in life?"

"Must life be interesting?"

The old man set up the Go board, "If it's not interesting, why do people live?"

For Ruan Ci, living never seemed interesting, but it wasn't painful either. In Song Guo, she lived according to the rules of Song Guo and the arrangements of the Ruan family. Leaving Song Guo, first Xie Yanhuan, then Wang Panpan, were all arranging her life. She could only let nature take its course. Now, another old man who had been setting up a stall in Tan City for three years had appeared. Three years ago, she was still in Chen Guo, and he was already waiting for her in Tan City.

For some reason, sitting with this old man, although they were meeting for the first time, she felt close to him. Ruan Ci couldn't help but let down her guard and speak her heart, "I don't know why I live, but I know why you want me to live."

Her words were somewhat harsh, but the old man didn't get angry when he heard them; instead, he was amused, "The little peddler seems to not like us people very much."

"Who likes to have their life arranged by others?" Ruan Ci picked up a black piece and said, "It's fine if others arrange my destiny, but you, old man, are good. As soon as we meet, even what I like, whether it's interesting or not, you want to arrange it."

She usually had a very good temper. Whether in the Ruan family or later with Wang Panpan, she rarely quarreled with people. Beside this chess stall, she seemed to reveal another side hidden deep in her heart, and her words were hard for people to respond to. The old man gently slapped his own face, "Big mouth, big mouth, it's this old man who has a big mouth."

He was so easy to talk to that Ruan Ci felt bad again, "You were just talking, and I was just talking, why take it seriously?"

"What the little peddler said is the truth. You and I are strangers, and for the little peddler to be willing to play a game of chess with me is already giving this old man enough face. This old man was a bit relying on his age to sell his age."

The old man told Ruan Ci the rules of the chessboard. Ruan Ci thought about it silently while holding the chess piece and said, "Let's play and see. The rules look simple, but with nineteen vertical and horizontal lines, the changes must be the most numerous. I can only learn while playing. One game is not enough."

"Then how many games are enough?"

Ruan Ci pouted, "I'll know after playing. You old man, why do you have so much small talk?"

The old man had a good temper and smiled without caring. He taught while playing. Ruan Ci had never played Go before and didn't understand anything about capturing or taking pieces. In the first game, the old man gave her nine pieces, and he still won by a large margin. Ruan Ci said, "Let's play another game."

In the second game, she gradually tasted the flavor. In this game, the old man only won by more than thirty pieces. Ruan Ci said, "You won my capturing method, there must be ready-made chess manuals, right? There must be many established rules for capturing in this chess."

The old man said, "There are manuals, do you want to see them?"

Ruan Ci took over a dozen chess manuals, flipped through them all, thought for a while, and said, "Let's play another game."

In the third game, the old man only narrowly won by half a piece. Ruan Ci said, "Alright, no need to play anymore. This is as far as I can play for the first time. This half-piece difference will take several days of hard work to cross."

The old man smiled, "I even let you have nine pieces—"

"Then I can't be in a hurry for a moment." Ruan Ci smiled and tidied up the chessboard, "Shuangcheng is still waiting for me to go back and report. Old man, there will be plenty of opportunities to play this chess in the future, right?"

The old man stared at her for a while and clapped his hands, "Little peddler, has anyone ever said that you are very smart?"

Ruan Ci laughed, "No, there are many people who think my aptitude is not enough."

She patiently separated the black and white pieces, tidied them up one by one, and put them into the jars. Strangely, after tidying up one piece of the chessboard, there was another, and it seemed that she could never finish tidying up. Ruan Ci simply pushed all the chess pieces away and leaned back, "Not tidying up, you old man, be busy yourself."

"Still have a little temper." The old man was amused. He was also easygoing. Ruan Ci let him tidy up himself, so he really threw the chess pieces one by one. Ruan Ci crossed her legs and watched for a while. Seeing that he was slow to tidy up, she softened her heart and went up to tidy up with him.

"Little peddler, do you know? Xie Yanhuan, who was once the eldest senior sister of the Shangqing Sect and the smartest disciple in the Central Continent for ten thousand years, and is now a great demon that everyone hears about, also learned to play chess from me."

The white pieces were like jade, and the black pieces were like ink, thrown into the grass-woven chess box one by one. The old man talked leisurely, as if talking about anecdotes from his youth, "She also learned Go. Guess, why did she choose it?"

Ruan Ci originally thought Xie Yanhuan would choose animal chess, after all, it seemed more suitable for her temperament. However, thinking back, animal chess was popular in South Zhuzhou, but not necessarily in the Central Continent. "I think, Sister Xie probably chose it because the Go board has the most squares and the most changes."

"Not bad, that's exactly why." The old man smiled, "The little peddler is very smart. At that time, she told me that if she wanted to learn, she would learn the most difficult chess. Just like she wanted to learn the most difficult sword techniques, cultivate the highest cultivation methods, and pursue the most perfect realm. Xie Yanhuan wanted to be number one in everything, and she was indeed number one in everything—guess again, how many games did it take her to reach your level?"

Ruan Ci thought for a while, "Two games?"

The old man shook his head, "It took her six games."

A full half slower than Ruan Ci. It seems that Xie Yanhuan was not number one in everything.

Ruan Ci felt that this was just a minor detail, but she smiled casually and threw the chess pieces into the chess box, "It's all just playing, why calculate so clearly."

"Your temperaments are really very different. At that time, Xie Yanhuan pestered me to play chess for half a year until she could play evenly with me, and only then was she satisfied and stopped to look elsewhere. But the little peddler just tastes it and stops, not caring." The old man stroked his beard and smiled, "Seeing people through chess, interesting, interesting."

He picked up a black piece and threw it into the chess box. Only one white piece remained on the chessboard. Ruan Ci reached out to pick it up, but when she looked down, she couldn't find the chess box. When she looked up again, the chessboard was also gone. White mist rose before her eyes, and she seemed to fall into the high mountains and ridges. Under her feet were vertical and horizontal black lines like ditches, and above her head were latitude and longitude chess grids like stars. The old man's voice echoed in the clouds, "Also, little peddler, you say this Go is just a toy, which is right, but also wrong. All things are toys, and small things also have the Great Dao. For example, at this moment—you are in the middle of two armies fighting, holding this most critical chess piece. If you move forward, then jade and stone will burn together, and the robbery will be immeasurable."

Following his voice, the clouds and mist in front of her gradually dissipated. She saw stars on the chessboard, which were like great heavens, and the black and white energy was entangled. The smoke of war was everywhere on the chessboard. The black chess dragon was entangled in the middle, and the white chess crane was dancing in the abdomen. Both sides had countless robbery materials. As long as the white piece fell, it would be an immeasurable great robbery spanning the stars.

"If you move backward, then the chess will be one move short, and you will regret losing by half a piece."

The smoke and clouds spread again, and the smoke of war in those great heavens seemed to be reflected in her eyes. The joys and sorrows of millions of people were all in one glance. This move backward stopped the fighting. Although she regretted losing by half a piece, it could make this half of the country peaceful, recuperate, and plan for the next game.

Ruan Ci stood alone with the piece, looking around blankly, standing in the void. She looked down at the chessboard and pondered for a long time. The old man above her head asked, "Little peddler, where do you move?"

Where do you move?

The little peddler pinched the piece and bowed her head, as if a giant was looking down. The white piece in her hand seemed to be a cosmic spirit treasure with infinite power. She was a Golden Immortal Dao Ancestor who could control the situation. This move was like the Donghua Sword. One move out could break the universe and completely change the dragon-roaring and tiger-howling great thousand pattern.

Those millions of great heaven creatures, countless cultivators who had entered the Dao, were all looking up at her, waiting for her decision. The fate of the universe could only be decided by Ruan Ci alone!

After a long time, she had made up her mind. The white piece flew out of her hand and flew toward the chessboard, but it did not land on the latitude and longitude lines. It hit a corner of the chessboard directly. The huge force immediately cracked the chessboard, the chess pieces trembled together, the great heavens collapsed one after another, and with a loud bang, the universe shattered, the clouds and mist flew backward, and Ruan Ci stood in the blue stone alley again. The chess stall in front of her was gone, and the old man didn't know where he had gone. Only that white piece was still pinched between her fingers.

She frowned and looked around, looking up, down, left, right, front, and back, but she didn't see the old man or the pursuers, "I said there would be plenty of time in the future... I also said it, it's just playing, why be so serious."

Ruan Ci tossed the chess piece, shrugged, and walked toward the firm, complaining in a low voice. "Can't you listen even when I say it..."

The old man's laughter seemed to come to her ears again, this time with a hint of embarrassment, "Little peddler, your temper is even bigger than Xie Yanhuan's—don't lose the chess piece. Return it to this old man in the future. Three days later, come to Ningshan Pond."

He seemed afraid that if he didn't say this, Ruan Ci would throw away the chess piece, but Ruan Ci was not so willful. The old man left her a chess piece, which must be useful. Even if he didn't say it, she wouldn't throw it away. Hearing this, she looked at it carefully with her divine sense, only to see the chess piece shining brightly, and it didn't seem to have anything special, so she put it into her pocket and quickened her pace to run back to the Zhengqi Firm. Everyone had already heard that the disciples of the Tai Bai Sword Sect had started fighting with others. The old shopkeeper said, "With the speed of information transmission in the city, Master Lu should already know about this, but you and I still have to go and see."

He carried Ruan Ci and drove a butterfly-wing-like magic tool to fly toward the city gate. Many cultivators had already gathered on the city wall to look into the distance. Master Lu and Huan Changyuan were among them. Ruan Ci was worried about Dong Shuangcheng, so she went over to salute, and ignoring etiquette, whispered, "Elder Lu, I see that Fairy Shuangcheng seems to think her strength is not as good as the other party..."

"Indeed not as good. Shuangcheng just reached Foundation Establishment not long ago, and that person from the Chu family is already in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment." Master Lu was usually smiling and had no arrogance of a sword cultivator, but at this time his expression was indifferent, "However, since Shuangcheng has started fighting with him, life and death are in her own sword."

Ruan Ci said anxiously, "But she—if she falls, she will, will—"

Master Lu said, "If she really falls to her death, the Tai Bai Sword Sect will naturally have people coming to get back the field."

Huan Changyuan hugged his chest with both hands, staring at the outside of the city with burning eyes, and said in a deep voice, "Uncle, if Shuangcheng loses, I will fight him."

Master Lu was noncommittal, but Ruan Ci had an indescribable expression on her face, only feeling that the people of the Tai Bai Sword Sect were indeed not something ordinary people could understand. She saw Dong Shuangcheng and the young man fighting fiercely. A sword pellet was coming and going without a trace in the air, fighting equally with the black sword used by the young man. Although her sword moves were exquisite, her magic power was indeed not as good as the opponent's. In fact, she was already at a disadvantage. If it weren't for the fact that the young man didn't seem to want to kill her immediately, she would have been defeated long ago—she refused to admit defeat, and the young man couldn't stop. The sword momentum grew and waned, and that fatal move had gradually brewed with the momentum of the two fighting.

Ruan Ci was anxious and hardened her heart, shouting loudly, "Hey, you fool, don't you have eyes? What unchaste, I am close to Sister Shuangcheng because I am also a woman!"

Saying this, she pushed the old shopkeeper, tore off her headscarf, let her long hair fly, and rushed out of the city wall to save Dong Shuangcheng.

The young man's words in the shop were not avoided. Ruan Ci rushed out of the shop and heard a few sentences, knowing he wanted to teach Dong Shuangcheng a lesson for being unchaste on behalf of his brother. How could anyone on the city wall not have heard? At this time, seeing Ruan Ci reveal her female identity, everyone couldn't help but laugh. The young man was also taken aback. Just as the old shopkeeper rushed over, disrupting the two's sword momentum, he took the opportunity to take back his precious sword, flew backward, and looked at Ruan Ci in astonishment, "You—you—"

Ruan Ci also knew that he was probably Dong Shuangcheng's relative by marriage, just didn't know why Shuangcheng didn't recognize him. She sneered, "Young Master is good at everything, but his eyesight is a bit poor."

Saying this, she reached out to help Shuangcheng onto the butterfly wings. Shuangcheng was already panting and covered in sweat. Fighting outside Tan City required standing in the void and controlling the sword pellet. Her magic power was almost exhausted. Ignoring talking, she immediately sat cross-legged, holding spirit jade, and began to absorb the spiritual energy in it.

The sword fight was over, and Master Lu and Huan Changyuan also flew out from the city wall. Master Lu arched his hands and said, "Young Master Chu, long time no see."

Young Master Chu sheathed his sword, raised his hand to return the salute casually, glared at Dong Shuangcheng again, and mocked, "Twenty-something years, only this cultivation base, and you still go down the mountain? I'm afraid you don't even know how you died."

Saying this, he rose into the air, took those followers, turned into a stream of light, and flew back to the city, not even bothering to leave a few polite words. Master Lu said coldly, "This is a disciple of a flourishing sect."

The excitement had ended, and everyone dispersed, with no gossip. The Tai Bai Sword Sect was one of the most powerful branches among the flourishing sects in South Zhuzhou. Judging by Master Lu's tone, that Young Master Chu was a disciple of a flourishing sect. How many people in Tan City could discuss the rights and wrongs of these people at will? Master Lu and the others waited on the city wall for a while, and after Dong Shuangcheng finished adjusting her breath, they returned to the firm together to drink tea.

Distracted by this matter, the business Master Lu was originally discussing could not continue and had to wait until tomorrow. Shuangcheng apologized to her uncle, "The disciple is incompetent and has brought shame to the sect."

"No need to say it so grandly. That kid from the Chu family is an inner disciple of the Yunkong Gate, a genius disciple of a flourishing sect. Losing to him is not a disgrace." Master Lu sneered, "Besides, hasn't he been apprenticed for more than forty years? He is only in the middle stage of Foundation Establishment. If it weren't for the cultivation method you are practicing, your progress might not be slower than his. However..."

His expression was a bit strange, "I heard them say that he entered the door first and sat in a conspicuous place, while you came in later but turned a blind eye to him, as if you didn't know him. With Chu the Fourth's arrogance, it's not without reason that he came to find trouble with you. This matter is considered your impoliteness first. It's best to write a letter to explain to Chu the Third."

Shuangcheng clearly didn't want to write the letter, lowered her head, and didn't make a sound. Master Lu sighed, "As you wish."

He raised his hand to Ruan Ci and said, "Little friend, this time it's all thanks to your thoroughness. I will definitely write a letter to say a few good words for you. When we return to the mountain gate in three years, let's see if we can bypass the entrance examination and directly include you in the inner sect."

Ruan Ci was confused at first, then shocked. Entrance examination, inner sect—these were not words for a guest, but clearly for a future disciple. But she couldn't sense the Dao rhyme, so Master Lu, the old shopkeeper, Huan Changyuan, Dong Shuangcheng, and Assistant Li all classified her as a mortal without hesitation. This was simply baffling.

But what was even more frightening was that everyone present had no doubts about this. Dong Shuangcheng even held Ruan Ci's hand and said affectionately, "Don't worry, the Sword Venerable dotes on Senior Brother Changyuan the most, and with Elder Lu's good words, maybe he will be happy and directly take you as an inner disciple, even higher than Senior Brother Changyuan."

Master Lu said, "What nonsense, without Core Formation, how can you be an inner disciple..."

Shuangcheng didn't listen to him, pulled Ruan Ci aside, and whispered, "Actually, I didn't deliberately neglect that Chu the Fourth, but we have only met a few times, and we were very young then. I... I don't remember his face at all."

She was a little embarrassed, "I often lose my mind. It was my confusion that implicated you—are you okay? Those people came to chase you, did they cause you any trouble?"

Ruan Ci only prevaricated. She kept looking at Master Lu, Huan Changyuan, and the old shopkeeper, and used her full eyesight to look at her own hands, only to see five-colored spiritual brilliance like water and colorless Dao rhyme like snow, drifting and falling into her palms, all melting and disappearing. This was exactly what an ordinary cultivator looked like when sensing Dao rhyme and absorbing spiritual brilliance.

She reached out and pinched the chess piece in her sleeve, and the horror in her heart lingered for a long time: not to mention how heaven-defying the means to create such an illusion were, just speaking of everyone's memory, knowing that cultivators could keep their minds steady, to be able to tamper with everyone's memory quietly, this... what kind of cultivation base would it take to be able to do this?

Three days later at Ningshan Pond, what kind of chess stall would that old man set up to wait for her?

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Updated, sorry for the long wait, everyone. Let's talk about yesterday's comment lottery. Because a book can only have one lottery at a time, we have to wait until tomorrow's full-order lottery ends before drawing yesterday's comments. Please wait a moment, everyone.

Ruan Ci is actually very opinionated.

Eating spring pancakes at home today~~~~~~~~ and I also ordered Bobo Chicken as a snack. I love eating Bobo Chicken, how about you guys???

Thanks to the little angels who cast overlord votes or irrigated nutrient solution for me during the period 2020-07-11 12:00:52~2020-07-12 12:05:46~

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Thank you all very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!