Chapter 306

【Sima Ting walked into the room of the little courtyard and placed the gifts sent by the Old Master on the table.】

【It was a lake pen contributed by the Jiannan Circuit, also called "Green Peak Piercing the Top," which requires picking and choosing from thousands of sheep skins to make one.】

【Originally, only the royal family could enjoy it, but now almost all the Nine Great Clans have a few.】

【Sima Ting said: "The Old Master also asks Young Master Guan to trouble himself to write the incomplete sentence that is famous in Bianjing recently."】

【He carefully took out a piece of silk from his sleeve.】

【You nod and wrote on the silk, "Peng in the North Sea, Phoenix toward the sun, carrying books and swords on a vast road."】

【You were just about to pick up the brush when Sima Ting added: "Please also add the Second Master's completion."】

【You wrote again, "Until now, books and swords are drifting."】

【Sima Ting's gaze fell on this line of handwriting. Having practiced martial arts for many years, he felt at this moment the young man's grip on the brush and the force used, like a sword being drawn from its sheath, revealing cold light. He secretly praised in his heart that Young Master Guan's calligraphy had improved again, and an indescribable charm flowed between the lines.】

【Sima Ting put away the silk. He originally wanted to bring up the martial arts doubts, but finally thinking of the muscles and bones the young man just revealed, he swallowed the words that came to his lips.】

【He bowed and said goodbye: "Young Master Guan, the Hundred Flowers Banquet is coming soon. On that afternoon, the Sima family's sedan chair will come to the Xie residence to pick you up."】

【The Hundred Flowers Banquet is on the night before New Year's Eve, and there are still more than twenty days left.】

【The journey from the Xie residence to the West Wing Tower only takes half an hour. Of course, the road is crowded, and the Nine Great Clans do not like to squeeze with ordinary people, so they have official roads that only the carriages and sedan chairs of the Nine Great Clans can pass.】

【Sima Ting is thoughtful. The Xie residence naturally has carriages and drivers, but with your status as a concubine-born son, you cannot command them.】

【You nod and thank him: "Thank you, General Sima."】

【Sima Ting leaves, and you send him to the courtyard gate.】

【Inside the courtyard, it is white with snow, and the little courtyard appears quite quiet.】

【After this year, next spring, you will enter the school and then participate in the imperial examination to start the child examination, which is held in February every year.】

【The imperial examination is the top priority in the Great Qi. From the stage of the child examination to the scholar examination, there are strict supervisors from the Academy to ensure the fairness and justice of the examination and avoid favoritism and fraud.】

【Of course, there are exceptions. Those students studying in the Academy do not need to participate in the child examination and directly possess the scholar status.】

【The Academy scholar and the imperial examination scholar, although both are scholars, are worlds apart.】

【The place that scholars in the world yearn for most is the Academy.】

【The people studying in the Academy are few, only two or three hundred, all of whom are great scholars of the time or people proficient in literature, astronomy, water conservancy, and military affairs.】

【You continue to return to the room to read.】

【The Xie family library has thousands of classics, but as a concubine-born son, you have no right to enter and exit freely.】

【You can only ask Xie Yuan to help you borrow books from the library.】

【In this half year, you have almost read half of the collection in the Xie family library.】

【Until the afternoon!】

【You are walking the second round of post-standing skills in the courtyard, contemplating the "Ghost-Slaying Sword."】

【At this time!】

【The remote little courtyard welcomes Xie Yuan and his party, whom you haven't seen for more than half a month.】

【He walks on the snow, still followed by a group of servants, looking "majestic."】

【Accompanying him this time is also Zhang Yunzhi. The three of you have long been familiar, so there are no extra polite words.】

【Xie Yuan sits on the fire kang familiarly, his gaze falling on the books piled up on your desk, many of which are idle books.】

【"Local State Governance of Jiangnan Circuit," "Travel Notes of Xu Xian," "Dream Dragon Brush Talk"... "Record of Demons."】

【He laughs, "Brother Guan, the imperial examination only tests the Four Books and Five Classics. I fear these idle books won't be of any use."】

【You smile slightly and respond, "Read a book a hundred times, and its meaning will appear; there is a golden house in the book."】

【Influenced by you, Xie Yuan has already memorized the Four Books and Five Classics. He has great scholars to accompany him in reading, and his talent is solid, but he doesn't like writing poetry and has no reputation.】

【Xie Yuan secretly decides to read these idle books when he goes back.】

【Xie Yuan picks up the "Record of Demons" and flips through it casually. It records many demons in the thirteen circuits and even the Great Sui territory, with different forms.】

【Demons all have one characteristic: feeding on humans to strengthen themselves.】

【Xie Yuan has long been interested in this and has read it many times.】

【He raises his head to look at you, excitement flashing in his eyes, and says, "Brother Guan, this Hundred Flowers Banquet has truly spent a lot of money! In the early Bianjing, it was rare to see traces of demon species."】

【"This Hundred Flowers Banquet will have demon species appearing to perform."】

【You are slightly puzzled; which demon dares to come to Bianjing.】

【Not to mention that Bianjing is heavily guarded, just with the Jing Shen Array as the eye of the capital, as long as any demon in the world steps into Bianjing City, the Academy will know it for the first time.】

【Zhang Yunzhi explains, "Young Master Guan might not know, but for this Hundred Flowers Gathering, Prime Minister Su specially asked the Divine Concealment Division to come and help."】

【The Divine Concealment Division is the government office of the Great Qi specially responsible for training and managing demons. It has many experts and masters many secret methods for taming demons.】

【And these demon species are under the command of the Divine Concealment Division.】

【Xie Yuan has long been impatient for this Hundred Flowers Banquet to be held early.】

【Watching the election of the flower queen, demon performances, and the arrival of the Third Master of the Academy and Prime Minister Su, there are few such lively grand gatherings in Bianjing.】

【However, Zhang Yunzhi hides a bit of sorrow in her heart. Her father is stationed at Ze Lake, and her mother has been running around for her father's affairs, so the family cannot be reunited this year.】

【"Brother Guan, shall we play a few games?"】

【Every time Xie Yuan comes to your residence, he pulls you to play a few games of chess. He originally thought that after losing to you in Chinese chess, changing to Go might find a chance of winning.】

【Xie Yuan also has quite an accomplishment in Go. He used to be a playboy, proficient in cockfighting, shaking dice, gambling on stones, etc., and Go was naturally one of them.】

【Xie Yuan starts laughing and teaching you how to play Go, ever since you conceded the first game because you were unfamiliar with the rules.】

【You played two games, and from the third game, Xie Yuan found that he was already struggling.】

【In the fourth game, he couldn't even play, and he didn't believe in this evil.】

【From the fourth game, he played three games in a row, all of which he lost.】

【You now discover that Xie Yuan is the kind of person who, if you intentionally let him win, he wouldn't be happy in his heart.】

【Therefore, when you play against him, you only show half your strength and don't intentionally let him win.】

【"Let's decide the winner in five games and three wins!"】

【Hearing Xie Yuan's words, you nod slightly.】

【A group of servants naturally carries the chess set with them and starts setting it up on the table.】

【A nineteen-line Go board is placed between the two.】

【You and Xie Yuan each have a jar, black and white chess pieces.】

【The white pieces are warm and moist like jade, soft but not transparent, with a slight yellow or emerald green color; the black pieces "look like green jade when looked up at, and look like dots of lacquer when looked down at," dark and moist, and when viewed against the light, they are semi-transparent, with a kind of emerald green or treasure blue luster around the pieces.】

【These chess pieces are called "Yunzi," also known as "Yunbian" or "Yunyaozi," which were tributes from the Yun'an Circuit to the royal family. In the past, only the royal family had them, but now in the homes of the Nine Great Clans, it is no longer strange.】

【"Clap, clap!"】

【The sound of you and Xie Yuan placing pieces is crisp and audible, and Zhang Yunzhi also watches intently.】

【Not long after!】

【Xie Yuan falls into deep thought, unable to decide where to place the piece, and even starts scratching his head.】

【Finally, he sighs helplessly, "Come again!"】

【Zhang Yunzhi is proficient in zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and her chess skill is even better than Xie Yuan's.】

【Watching this game, she naturally favors Xie Yuan, who is slightly weaker.】

【In the second game, Xie Yuan advances step by step, thinking carefully; while you are flowing like clouds and water, placing pieces like flying.】

【Zhang Yunzhi shakes her head slightly and sighs, "Lost!"】

【Xie Yuan is unwilling, "Come again!"】

【For a time, the sound of placing pieces continues.】

【A group of servants gathers around the table. Although they don't understand the chess game, seeing their young master frowning and you looking as usual, holding a hot cup of tea and blowing the heat on it.】

【They naturally know that the young master has already lost!】

【Xie Yuan sits cross-legged, strokes his disheveled hair, and says heroically, "Come again!"】

【Although it was five games and three wins, and you have already won, you didn't refuse.】

【Until the five games were over, the hair on Xie Yuan's forehead was slightly messy.】

【"Sigh, this plan didn't fail because of me, but because of fate!"】

【Xie Yuan raises his head and looks at you with burning eyes.】

【"Brother Guan, are you human?"】

【You are a bit puzzled by his meaning.】

【Zhang Yunzhi looks at the chessboard for the last time. It seems that she had already lost from the middle game, falling into a trap. This Young Master Guan's chess skill is far above her cousin's.】

【Zhang Yunzhi laughs, "Young Master Guan, Xie Yuan is sincerely praising you."】

【Xie Yuan concedes, "Playing chess, I'd better not compare with you, Brother Guan, in the future; it's too bullying."】

【You must know!】

【Xie Yuan prides himself on his chess skill being quite good, and among a group of young masters, it is already "Jianghu hero skill."】

【He sometimes plays with his uncle, and his uncle says he already has fourth-grade chess skill.】

【Go is divided into nine grades, with the ninth grade being the lowest for beginners and the first grade being the strongest.】

【The ninth grade is "Guarding Clumsiness," meaning guarding the most stupid move, only roughly understanding the chess path, not good at change, only guarding and not attacking, belonging to the lowest.】

【The first grade is "Entering God," chess skill has reached perfection, changes are unpredictable, can defeat the opponent's chess without fighting, no one can match, belonging to the highest.】

【The fourth grade where Xie Yuan is located is "Passing Through the Hidden," able to deeply understand its meaning and reach the wonderful, at the time of the game, able to respond well to changes, mastering the initiative, belonging to the middle-upper.】

【Among ordinary people, fourth-grade chess skill is already considered a master.】

【However!】

【Apart from these first to ninth grades, there is another realm in the path of Go, which is above the first grade, and that is the tenth grade—"Trapped Dragon."】

【In the whole world, there is only one and a half people who can reach this realm.】

【One of them is the Fourth Master of the Academy. Because there is a "Dragon" character in his name, this tenth grade "Trapped Dragon" name seems tailor-made for him.】

【The Fourth Master's chess style is unique, placing pieces invisibly, hiding mysteries, and calculating far-reachingly, being the first in the world.】

【In his early years, the Fourth Master once won money with chess skills in the alleys, and his reputation spread far and wide, which was based on this extraordinary chess skill.】

【The fourteen-year-old Great Qi chess move, casually cracked the thousand-year residual game.】

【The most famous one is the three games played by the Fourth Master and the Master, and the world does not know the chess path taken.】

【Finally, the Second Master said, "Three games, no loss, no win, no draw."】

【In those years, the Yuan Emperor of the Great Qi was particularly fond of Go and held the Spring and Autumn Chess Gathering, widely inviting masters from all over the world, not limited to the Great Qi, and even experts from the other three countries came to Bianjing to compete.】

【In this grand gathering, he occupied the top spot.】

【And the other person, the Buddha Son Chenguang of the Southern Buddhist Kingdom, defeated all opponents, but only lost to the Fourth Master.】

【The Fourth Master occupied the first grade alone, and Chenguang followed closely, counting as half.】

【At this time, Xie Yuan waved his hand and said with a bit of annoyance: "Take it away, take it away, quickly take the chessboard away, it's annoying to look at."】

【He suddenly thought of something, his eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said: "Hehe, Brother Guan, although I am not your opponent on the chessboard, if we talk about strength, you are far inferior to me!"】

【"Jianghu heroes walk the Jianghu, acting righteously and doing good, not relying on playing chess, but on the treasure sword in the box and a pair of fists and feet."】

【Zhang Yunzhi knows that her cousin Xie Yuan has started practicing martial arts under the arrangement of her aunt recently, and according to the martial arts master in the courtyard, her cousin is extremely talented in martial arts.】

【Not only that, that uncle Zhuge Jian should also be teaching her cousin the method of soul cultivation.】

【Xie Yuan has already stood up and proposed excitedly: "Let's go to the courtyard!"】

【You didn't refuse; you have long been curious about Xie Yuan, who has been exercising his muscles and bones since childhood and has now been guided by martial artists, and what kind of progress he has made.】

【Thus, everyone came to the courtyard together.】

【"Brother Guan, watch carefully!" Xie Yuan shouted heroically.】

【To show his strength, Xie Yuan took off the fur and thick long gown outside without hesitation.】

【Although the cold wind was biting, making him shiver, he still held on to avoid losing face in front of you.】

【This scene made Zhang Yunzhi cover her mouth and laugh.】

【Zhang Yunzhi saw at a glance that her cousin Xie Yuan had already stepped from the first realm, "Tendon Refining," into the second realm of martial arts, "Bone Casting."】

【In just two months, being able to have such progress is indeed worthy of being called gifted.】

【His qi and blood are vigorous, enough to resist this cold, and feeling cold is just a natural reaction of the body.】

【Xie Yuan found a broken large bluestone slab in the courtyard, which weighed more than seven hundred catties.】

【He took a deep breath, hooked the two sides of the stone slab with his hands, gritted his teeth, and used force with his arms, actually lifting the giant stone-like bluestone slab.】

【"Young Master, put it down quickly." Xie Houer and several other servants nervously surrounded Xie Yuan, fearing he might have an accident.】

【You carefully observed Xie Yuan's movements and found that he clearly used the breathing method when inhaling just now, and there were quite a few tricks in using force.】

【In just two months, his strength increased to such an astonishing level, and his body shape didn't become clumsy because of it. The person who guided him behind this clearly has a martial arts cultivation that is not low.】

【Xie Yuan is already in the second realm of martial arts, "Bone Casting." Martial artists in this realm not only have greatly increased strength but can also hammer their bones, making their body shape more flexible and vigorous.】

【"Bang!"】

【Xie Yuan fiercely threw the big stone, making a loud noise. He turned his head and asked proudly: "Brother Guan, how is it? How is my strength?"】

【"Shall we have a competition?"】

(End of chapter)