Chapter 502

"How did you find me?"

The artifact spirit old man's eyes were sunken, his voice trembling as he asked, "Junior, your luck is relatively good."

Yunhe bowed and spoke softly.

"Forget it, if you don't want to say, then forget it, you junior are truly unpleasant."

"How could you step on an old man's face?"

The shoe print on the gourd old man's face looked somewhat ridiculous.

Yunhe bowed again, with a hint of apology, "Senior, if I win all three rounds, may I choose my own reward?"

Having risen, Yunhe's gaze was calm, as if he had made a perfectly reasonable request.

"What did you say?"

Hearing this, the gourd artifact spirit obviously could hardly believe what this young cultivator said.

"Junior, if I win three in a row, I beg you to give me a chance to choose my own reward!"

Seeing the gourd artifact spirit hear it again, it actually began to swell, its originally reddish-brown skin turning deep red, obviously furious at what Yunhe had just said.

Seeing this, Yunhe thought, perhaps his request to choose a reward was a bit excessive; he was about to speak to soothe the little old man on the verge of exploding—"Never."

"No one dares to say that."

"Senior," Yunhe wanted to interject to express his apology to the old gourd, but his voice was completely drowned out.

"You actually claim you can win three in a row against me!?"

"If you can win three in a row, I'll give you the Elixir Pavilion!!"

The artifact spirit old man's face flushed, he was already a bit carried away; in gaming, he had encountered many formidable experts, but he had never been shut out with a zero.

Even when the Nanming Lihuo Shenjun was around, the two of them were often evenly matched, hard to separate; now a mid-Yuan Ying Cultivator junior has come, won a single game against me and started boasting—know that what I excel at is not hide-and-seek, this kind of cheatable game, but chess!

"Right, chess. Let's compete in chess for the next round!"

The gourd artifact spirit's eyes lit up, as if he had a great idea; the Nanming Lihuo Shenjun of years past was a chess master, in this realm he had accomplishments in any kind of chess, even using avatars to establish dojos to compete in chess with all immortals and mortals.

The gourd artifact spirit's love for games and chess naturally came from years of influence by the Divine Lord. "Young man, I'll let you know the consequences of bragging! Hahaha."

The gourd artifact spirit seemed to already see Yunhe being slain by him until not a scrap remained; the dismayed Yunhe, amid his own laughter, spat out a mouthful of old blood and then uttered the lament "Since Yun, why produce elixir?" "Senior."

"Hahahaha. He sheng."

"Senior?"

"Let you brag, hahaha."

"Senior!"

"Ah? Cough cough, come on, come on."

Yunhe was somewhat speechless at this strange artifact spirit old man; how could he indulge in such fantasies? However, he did not doubt the gourd artifact spirit's chess skill; the Jade Slip says the Elixir Pavilion artifact spirit loves games, is erudite and talented, good at chess, pure-hearted; all who enter the Elixir Pavilion gain something. Yunhe knows that each word in the Jade Slip was exchanged by his senior brother with lifespan, so there could be no superfluous description. These two words "good at chess" show that his evaluation in chess is already high.

As for chess, Yunhe's skill is somewhat unimpressive; if it were an open and aboveboard duel of technique, he felt his chances of winning were low, perhaps none, so it would be better not to have an open and aboveboard match!

"Senior's chess skill I have long heard of; in the Eastern Realm it is renowned like thunder in the ears."

"Hmph, just hearing about it is fine, little old man, I'll deal with you shortly."

"Therefore, I, Yun, am also filled with awe and trepidation, fearing my chess skill is insufficient, lest I fail to satisfy your interest."

"Actually, it's not exactly like that."

"May I, as the junior, choose the rules for this chess match?"

"Hmm?" The gourd artifact spirit felt a bit uneasy.

"Senior's chess skill reaches the heavens; surely you are also versed in all chess rules."

"Well, that's certainly the case!" The gourd artifact spirit's unease grew, yet he still had confidence in his chess skill; could this Yuan Ying Cultivator possibly come up with some special chess technique? If he disagreed, what could he do?

"Then I'll take it as your agreement, senior, please."

Only see Yun's hand produce a chessboard, but the black and white pieces each only five—"Why are there so few pieces? How do you play?"

The gourd artifact spirit couldn't quite fathom this youngster's thoughts; how do you play with five pieces? He had never tried it before, but if it were the ordinary black-and-white rules, he believed Yunhe would surely not win.

"Senior, you may not know, this is the newest, most popular chess in the Eastern Realm—Five-in-a-row."

Yunhe blinked, put on a serious face, and began to explain to the artifact spirit old man how popular Five-in-a-row is in the Eastern Realm, how much the young cultivators love it. "If that's the case, then as you wish."

Although the gourd artifact spirit still had some reservations, hearing Yunhe's introduction to Five-in-a-row, the tale of two youths vying for a female immortal using Five-in-a-row to decide victory, resulting in mutual admiration through the game, and ultimately the female immortal spending her later years alone, suddenly sparked his interest in Five-in-a-row as well.

"Senior, please." As Yunhe spoke, he tapped a finger and a black piece landed at the center of the board—obviously not giving any courtesy to a newcomer.

"Let the little old man take it back, huh?"

Seeing Yunhe extend his palm, the gourd old man could only force a bitter smile and shake his head slightly.

The two didn't know how many rounds of Five-in-a-row they had played; the newly learned gourd artifact spirit was almost at four-in-a-row, yet due to a momentary carelessness, Yunhe took the victory; each time the gourd old man was about to lose, he would say this.

"Senior, you are truly intelligent and perceptive; after just a few games of Five-in-a-row, you've almost grasped the essence—truly making me admire you."

Having gained the advantage, Yunhe repeatedly bowed, praising the gourd artifact spirit's wisdom; with a little more effort, he could beat Yunhe.

Yunhe rose, patted his bulging storage bag, feeling his gains were about enough; he had just barely lost to the artifact spirit, and it was time to move on to the next step; since the artifact spirit had said that, not meeting his request would seem unfeeling. "Senior, sorry for the disturbance, junior still has matters to attend to."

"Wait. You can't leave."

At this point, the somewhat withered gourd artifact spirit had tears in his eyes, lying on the ground shouting at Yunhe; although it hurt a bit, he was still unwilling to accept defeat and wanted another round, but not the kind that gives elixir.

"Senior, do you have any more elixir to give me?" Yunhe's facial expression lifted slightly compared to usual, now appearing somewhat condescending, like a landlord exploiting slaves. "Wuu wuu wuu, you're a devil, returning the little old man's elixir." The gourd artifact spirit wanted to throw a tantrum, to make Yunhe return the elixir he had just lost, because the elixirs in the Elixir Pavilion were mostly left by the Divine Lord, only a few refined by him in his leisure; now that over half had been taken, he would have plenty to be busy with in the coming time. "Senior, you just said, win three in a row and I'll give you the Elixir Pavilion."

Yunhe seemed to suddenly recall this matter, having played Five-in-a-row not less than three rounds, he earnestly said to the gourd artifact spirit.

"Eh, is that really a thing? At this age, memory isn't so good."

Only see the gourd artifact spirit, who just moments ago was throwing a tantrum, now jump up from the ground: "Ah~ old folks need to sleep, the exit is over there, you can go straight to hammer the madam."

The gourd artifact spirit yawned affectingly, turned, and intended to let Yunhe leave just like that, as if nothing had just happened.

"Senior, how about another round? If you win, I'll return all the elixir I gained!"

Yunhe didn't know when he had come behind the gourd artifact spirit; the originally drifting a bit away old man heard this, suddenly paused, then somewhat trembling turned around.

"These words. Are these words really true?"

In an instant, the old gourd's face flushed red, as if a gambler who had just borrowed money, enjoying the thrill of taking a seat.

However, since Yunhe proposed another round, they definitely couldn't play Five-in-a-Row again, because the artifact spirit had roughly learned the patterns of Five-in-a-Row; playing it again would risk a disaster. 「Junior still has a board game called」

No, this time listen to the old geezer; we'll play—riddles!

At this moment, the artifact spirit old gourd seemed to have arrived in spring; even it felt as if it had taken back the initiative, with those firm words and earnest gaze—if Hammer Maiden were present, she would surely be bewitched by him.

——————

All right, since you've followed me, I will certainly not treat you poorly.

Yunhe suppressed the joy in his heart; he truly hadn't expected the artifact spirit's competitive drive to be so strong—he had originally wanted to see if there were any elixir formulas to request, but now he had simply taken the Elixir Pavilion back.

Originally intending to secure a win by relying on the novel Five-in-a-Row to win more precious elixirs from the arrogant and curious artifact spirit, who would have thought the artifact spirit would choose riddles, and coincidentally, the Jade Slip had blank nouns; Yunhe initially didn't know what they meant, but when the artifact spirit spoke the riddles one by one, Yunhe realized he understood them all.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Yuan," Yunhe murmured in his heart; only then did he feel the weight of Senior Brother Yuan addressing him as junior brother.

"Wuu wuu wuu, Master, you always guess right—this is a riddle I painstakingly prepared; no one has ever answered it correctly before."

The artifact spirit wept with tears like pear blossoms in rain; originally brownish-red, it now seemed to turn yellowish-green. No matter how he thought, he couldn't fathom what had just happened—how he not only lost so many elixirs but also lost himself! "I said, my luck is better," Yunhe said, at which point he regained his usual composure and once again deeply appreciated the wonder of the Hundred Dawn Tower.

Then, Master, will you take the old geezer to the Tea Elegant Pavilion to drink tea and listen to music?

The old gourd artifact spirit's sudden question left Yunhe somewhat surprised: "Tea Elegant Pavilion?"

Yes, back when the Divine Lord was around, the old geezer loved going to the Tea Elegant Pavilion to listen to music; Jade Flute Sister, I miss you~

Yunhe remained composed on the surface, but deep down he harbored a bold guess: the artifact spirit usually follows its master, so this old gourd must have frequented places of wind, flowers, snow, and moon; the Divine Lord too—? cough, cough—I just don't know who this Jade Flute Sister is, and I've never heard of her before.

Hmm? Not agreeing to come with me is also because... 'Let's go out first and talk; by the way, why don't I see any other cultivators who came in?'

Yunhe asked, obviously curious about how the Elixir Pavilion could set up so many small chambers.

Hehe, Master, you don't know, but I have one hundred and eight independent elixir chambers of various sizes, and all the other cultivators have been scattered by me among those chambers.

The old gourd was clearly pleased, and indeed worthy of pride—such a marvelous elixir chamber is exceedingly rare even throughout the lower realm of cultivation.

One person and one gourd left the Elixir Realm just like that; when a white light flashed, the place where the Elixir Pavilion had been saw a crowd of cultivators falling from the sky—all of them those who had just entered the Elixir Pavilion.

What's going on? I was just about to answer!

Where is the artifact spirit senior? Where did the artifact spirit senior go?

That Daoist ran off; he surely has elixirs on him.

Kill

In an instant, blades flashed and swords flew; the cultivators who had obtained elixirs immediately fled at full speed, while behind them were ruthless pursuers.

A burly man in barbarian robes awoke from the ruins, "My head feels dizzy—what just happened?"

It seems someone slapped me on the way to the Elixir Pavilion.

Damn it, once Ah Man gets the elixir and cultivates a divine ability, I'll make you pay!

Wait... the Elixir Pavilion...?

No no

——————I am the dividing line————

Teleportation arrays are convenient, but Yunhe, having arrived in the Implement Realm, did not immediately approach the Implement Pavilion; according to the information on the Jade Slip, the Implement Pavilion and the Elixir Pavilion differ greatly!

First, the artifact spirit of the Implement Pavilion has a bad temper—something the Elixir Pavilion's artifact spirit also agrees with. Second, the Implement Pavilion is huge, resembling an imperial city, its guards being soldiers formed from various spirit puppets; to enter and obtain opportunity, one must first break the artifact spirit's Controlling Spirit Grand Array set up within the Implement Pavilion. Yunhe doesn't know how many other Yuan Ying Cultivators have arrived, but the various true materials for artifact forging stored in the Implement Pavilion can be obtained through sheer strength, so the competitive pressure is certainly not small.

Another important reason Yunhe didn't rush to the Implement Pavilion was that the infant spirit within the Five Elements Nurturing Spirit Pearl in his dantian showed signs of awakening, so Yunhe didn't mind waiting a bit longer.

"Do you know how to break the Implement Pavilion's Controlling Spirit Grand Array?" Yunhe asked while sitting in meditation and regulating his breath.

The old geezer, the old geezer doesn't know.

The speaking old gourd's eyes were somewhat wandering.

Is it really that fierce?

Um, no, no, right?

Since entering the Implement Realm, Yunhe noticed that the Elixir Pavilion's artifact spirit seemed unnatural, often zoning out or gazing toward the Implement Pavilion as if worried or afraid of something.

Lustful gourd, you'd better explain what happened!

Yunhe blinked in surprise.

Only then did the old gourd that had quickly ducked behind him turn a shade paler.

(End of chapter)