Chapter 453: Smashing the Chessboard

"He actually dares to threaten the Old Ancestor?" Li Shuangjia's eyes were filled with suspicion and shock.

The Old Ancestor was one of the three great Demons of the Spring and Autumn period, viewing the world as a chessboard; even he himself was merely a piece casually placed by the Old Ancestor, of no real consequence.

Having revealed the identity of the three great Demons, Li Baishi secretly guessed that the Old Ancestor possessed at least the strength of a First-Rank Expert, or perhaps was even a legendary Land Immortal, or even in the Confucian Sage Realm.

Yet now, he was being forcibly pressed into a seat at the table to play chess by this man named Murong Tonghuang.

However, upon recalling Murong Tonghuang's battle record, she understood; since this person had burst onto the scene, the number of First-Rank Experts who had died at his hands surpassed the total of the previous ten years combined. One man alone could declare war on the entire Liyang Imperial Court, and he had managed to cause the entire court to suffer losses and soldiers, leaving them helpless.

Li Baishi suddenly trembled all over, her hair standing on end.

She saw Yu Liancheng sit in the position opposite the Old Ancestor; he appeared calm and indifferent, yet he was like a crouching fierce tiger, his killing intent held back but not released, grinding his teeth and sucking blood, ready to choose someone to devour at any moment.

And that old man with the erhu felt it even more deeply than Li Baishi; though he was in the room, it was as if he had returned to the time before he had fallen into books, living in the same room with a fierce tiger as an ordinary person. This long-lost sense of terror made him feel a threat once again—the threat of death.

It was as if the other party was silently conveying a certain message.

——Dare not to finish this game of chess with me, then go to your death.

If it were an ordinary person, under such intense murderous intent, their heart and courage would likely have been shattered long ago. But this old man was still able to remain composed: "Hand-talk is originally an elegant affair; how can one force a gamble? Vulgar, truly vulgar."

Yu Liancheng was the first to place a black piece, sneering: "Heh, you Huang Longshi use the world as a chessboard, stirring up the Spring and Autumn period, forcing the people of the world to gamble with you; when did you become so long-winded? Isn't it still just a matter of seeing who has more means?"

Huang Longshi!!

This person was actually Huang Longshi, one of the three great Demons of the Spring and Autumn period!

Even Yu Youwei, who had seen much of the world, could not help but feel her heart tremble.

Huang Longshi was publicly recognized as the best at the nineteen-line board, the best at cursive script and yin-yang prophecy, and was world-renowned. Among the Spring and Autumn Thirteen Jia, he alone held the titles of Chess Jia, Book Jia, and Calculation Jia, hence he was also called Huang Sanjia.

This person was once the most prized student of Shangyin Academy and one of the non-registered disciples of the first-generation Confucian Sage, Zhang Fuyao.

During the Great War of the Nine Kingdoms, he lobbied among them, using his tongue to incite many wars, his Three-Inch Tongue Killed Three Million people. Together with Han Renmao and the Human Butcher, he was known as one of the three great Demons whom everyone in the pugilistic world wanted to kill. He laid out the world, with his chess played outside the chessboard.

No matter how formidable Murong Tonghuang was, he was ultimately still within the category of a martial artist.

And although Huang Longshi was not a God, if one were to really calculate it, he had long been no different from an immortal or a ghost.

During the chaotic war of the nine Spring and Autumn kingdoms, all kinds of "heavenly anomalies" emerged one after another—the Qinglong emerging from the water, divine steles breaking through the earth, hens turning into roosters—which one of these was not of his doing?

Not to mention these courtly strategies and worldly maneuvers, just in terms of the three-foot Go board, the current Imperial Court had established the Chess Waiting Official, and had the Great National Master set chess manuals to evaluate chess strength, with over four hundred people reaching the peak. Yet this old man claimed that if four hundred chess players joined forces to play against him, he could still easily win.

What arrogant words these were; throughout the world, only this person could say them, yet those four hundred top chess players dared not accept the challenge, whether joining forces or playing individually, all pretending to be deaf and dumb.

"That is well said. My Three-Inch Tongue Killed Three Million was nothing more than being a bit smarter and knowing a bit more. In this world, it all comes down to the strong bullying the weak, the many defeating the few, and the clever deceiving the foolish..." Huang Longshi also casually placed a white piece, having already returned to calm, possessing the demeanor of a Spring and Autumn Demon.

Yu Liancheng followed by placing a black piece: "I know you look down on martial artists, but I still want to tell you a principle. It is fine for a chess player like you to hide behind the chessboard, but if you truly dare to appear on the board and provoke someone to the point of desperation, the other party will just pick up the chessboard and smash it against your head. Especially those martial artists with high martial arts and not-so-good tempers."

Huang Longshi smiled: "Unfortunately, you are not that kind of person. Your various actions, while appearing casual, are actually long-laid plans; you would not do anything meaningless."

"I would," Yu Liancheng said very seriously, then changed the subject: "The Spring and Autumn wars have ended, and Liyang has unified the world; this is a brand-new chessboard. If this board is played by only one person, wouldn't it be boring?"

Huang Longshi said indifferently: "Playing chess alone has the joy of playing alone."

"Casually moving pieces, looking down on all living beings, letting them place their pieces step by step according to your will?" Yu Liancheng chuckled.

Huang Longshi glanced at Yu Liancheng: "You are indeed not that brute Wang Xianzhi, whose head is filled only with fighting."

Yu Liancheng said: "I am a brute, but I am just a bit more formidable than Wang Xianzhi. I heard that when you first entered Shangyin Academy, you completed the Pillar Record in one breath amidst the heavy rain by the lake, to establish a destiny for life, to continue the lost teachings for the sages of the past, and to open up peace for ten thousand generations. Your ambition was grand; all these years you have used the world as a chessboard, it was merely to fulfill these three wishes."

"That is exactly so," Huang Longshi nodded, a look of pride appearing faintly on his face.

Whether it was the Central Plains or Beiliang, everything was moving according to his chess, and although there were occasional deviations, they were not large.

"Honestly, I have no ill will toward you, Huang Longshi; I even admire you somewhat. You can be considered a true scholar. But you like to use people as chess pieces, and sometimes you go too far to satisfy your own perverse interests. Leave a line for others, so you can meet again in the future."

Yu Liancheng chuckled: "Besides, I don't care how you scheme against others, but from now on, don't you dare reach your hand over to me. Also, you don't need to worry about Chen Yu anymore; she is my person now."

Huang Longshi chuckled: "I use the common people as chess pieces; you are one of the common people, and Chen Yu is also one of the common people. Since that is the case, you are both my chess pieces."

"Really?" Yu Liancheng suddenly raised his head to look at Huang Longshi, his expression changing abruptly, his eyes turning sharp, his lips slightly pursed, like a waking fierce tiger, extremely ferocious, his aura of violence soaring to the heavens. Both women in the room could not help but take two steps back, their inner garments already soaked with cold sweat on their backs.

"Naturally, really."

Huang Longshi's expression also turned cold.

He had conceded once before, and he would not concede again. Furthermore, as a chess player, how could one not dare to move one's own pieces?

The next moment.

Chess pieces flew, the chessboard was flipped, and then with a "bang," it smashed heavily onto Huang Longshi, immediately causing this Spring and Autumn Demon to crash through the wall, still flying outward like a meteor.

Yu Liancheng held the chessboard and snorted coldly: "I told you, I am a reckless man, and I will beat people up. If you want to treat me as a chess piece and think you are playing a big game, then I have no choice but to smash the chessboard hard against your face."