Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 101: What Chess Pieces Rely On

As the rain gradually intensified, Ji Yuan danced with his sword, wearing his green robes. The wide-sleeved long robe did not affect the agility of his swordsmanship, and instead even made it more graceful, neither too feminine nor too rigid.

There seemed to be no formal movements nor rigid postures. The falling raindrops seemed to be pulled by countless invisible threads, swaying with the sword as it spun. The body and mind were in harmony, and the sword moved at his will.

Every drop of rain was one sword, and every sword turned into a drop of rain.

Maybe only a few breaths had passed, or perhaps enough time to drink a cup of tea, before Ji Yuan finished his sword dance. He swung his sleeves, turned around, and stood with his hands behind his back. At this very moment, the rain around him drew a circle as he spun, forming a ten-foot-wide circular wave of water under his feet. Then it slowly melded into the rain running across the ground.

And although the sword had stopped moving, the falling rain would actively avoid Ji Yuan, landing at his feet beside him.

Ji Yuan looked at the Zuo family members still in the hall.

“This is the divine concept¹ of the Soaring Dragon. There are no formal movements or styles. It can integrate with all martial arts styles in this world. Whether you can comprehend it, and how much you can comprehend, is up to you.”

After he had finished speaking, Ji Yuan walked out of the rain. When he stepped into the hall again, there were no signs of water under his feet. Even his clothes were dry.

Since he was acting as an immortal master right now, he naturally needed to do his best and be a little pretentious.

The Zuo family and Elder Yan had not yet recovered from the mysterious immortal sword dance just now. They were still staring blankly outside the hall, as if an illusory figure were still dancing with a sword in the rain.

After a long time, Zuo Boran was the first to return to his senses, followed by Zuo Youtian, Zuo Youxin, and others in turn. The two children kept staring out at the rain in a daze. No one from the Zuo family said a word until the children had come to their senses and snuggled up to their mother. Only then did the Zuo family and Elder Yan dare to breathe a sigh of relief.

Ji Yuan just sat at the table drinking tea, and even picked up the teapot to refill his cup.² He waited until the Zuo family had finally recovered before smiling at them.

Seeing that Elder Yan looked embarrassed, he was quick to reassure him.

“Elder Yan, there is no need to worry. You didn’t steal anything from the Zuo family. I don’t mind you watching. Who would object? Sit down and have some tea!”

“Thank you, Immortal Lord, for allowing me to watch your sword dance.”

Elder Yan bowed submissively and sat down in his chair. He hurriedly picked up the teacup and took a sip to calm himself. In truth, he knew the significance of the immortal’s sword dance perhaps better than the Zuo family did.

Although Yan’s shop had long sealed away the special sword-forging furnace, Elder Yan had still spend half of his life forging swords, so naturally he had his own insights into swordsmanship.

He could only sigh in his heart: ‘This wonderful immortal swordsmanship is rare to find in the mortal world!’

Although the Zuo family members had now returned to their senses, they were still savoring the scenes they had seen in the rain just now. They couldn’t recall Ji Yuan’s movements at all, but that did not prevent them from feeling the intent.

After a little while, the Zuo family members stood in the hall and bowed 90 degrees, led by Zuo Boran. Even the two children bowed with the help of their parents.

“The Zuo family will never forget the kindness you have shown us. We, the Zuo family of Juntian Prefecture, will enshrine and forever worship the Immortal Lord!”

Zuo Boran’s voice was still full of spirit, despite being solemn and serious.

Ji Yuan was amused at his words, but he had no intention of having people build a shine to worship him.

“Okay, you can all forget about this matter now that it is over for you. However, it’s still not over for me yet. I wonder if the Juntian Prefecture City God is willing to speak with me!”

Ji Yuan shook his head and smiled. Since he had previously mentioned it, he naturally had to fulfill his promise.

In fact, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal. After all, the Zuo family had his decree to preserve them. After some time, their souls would become clear and bright, and it would be more difficult for them to turn evil. If they accumulated virtue and performed more good deeds, there was a high probability of them becoming candidates for the City God’s underworld officials after death.

Ji Yuan could pay him a polite visit. He did not even need to meet the City God personally, he only needed to meet one of the judges and mention his relationship with the Zuo family. There was a high probability that the City God of Juntian Prefecture would agree to do Ji Yuan a favor.

It wasn’t like the Zuo family had committed some incontrovertible mistake by producing one vicious descendant. There were good ghosts, just as there were bad people. Since Ji Yuan, a cultivator, was vouching for them, why wouldn’t the underworld do them a favor? As long as it didn’t violate any of their basic principles, even the underworld could consider forming relationships with the living.³

This wasn’t just some random guess on Ji Yuan’s part. On the contrary, it was clearly written in “A Historical Account from Outside the Tao.” This was also based on Ji Yuan’s previous experience in his several encounters with the City God system. Of course, there were definitely some underworld officials or City Gods with bad tempers, but if Ji Yuan ran into them, it would just be bad luck.

But Ji Yuan set aside this matter for the time being. Instead, he narrowed his eyes slightly, looed at the writing on the table, and said to the Zuo family:

“Alright, come and receive the decree.”

As the head of the family, Zuo Boran stepped forward solemnly, reaching out both hands toward the table, and made as if to pick up the decree. However, before he could do so, Ji Yuan reached out and pressed down on his arms.

“I have said this before: if the Zuo family just wants to live a stable life, then all will be well. Although this edict is powerful, it is not omnipotent. Good fortune and disaster arise from people’s own selves. If you truly wish to step into the martial arts world in the future, it would be in your best interest to uphold a noble and chivalrous spirit. Otherwise, this decree will vanish on its own!”

Ji Yuan’s voice was filled with good cheer, but no one in the room dared to take these pressure-filled words as a joke.

“We, the Zuo family, will obey, and never forget the master’s teachings!”

“We will never forget the master’s teachings!”

When Zuo Boran spoke, the Zuo family members behind him hurriedly bowed to show their determination.

Ji Yuan finally moved his hand away, leaving Zuo Boran, with sweat dripping down his forehead, to take the decree with both hands. A phantom chess piece flashed under his right sleeve, making Ji Yuan exclaim in his heart, ‘sure enough!’

Watching Zuo Boran carefully return to the hall with the calligraphy, with the Zuo family admiring it, Ji Yuan suddenly thought of something, and looked at Elder Yan, who was stroking his beard.

“Mr. Yan, where is my scabbard?”⁴

“Huh?”

Elder Yan looked at Ji Yuan in confusion, and then glanced at the Green Vine Sword resting beside the table. He immediately broke out in a cold sweat. The scabbard request wasn’t a joke?

“Hahahaha… There’s no rush, Mr. Yan, don’t worry. I’ll come back to purchase it in a couple days. A simple scabbard wouldn’t take too long to make in the Yan family’s shop, right?”

“It won’t take much, it definitely won’t take much! I will prepare one to your satisfaction, sir!”

Elder Yan hurriedly assured him, then lowered his head and considered what styles and what kinds of wood to prepare. Either way, he decided to mobilize the Yan family to make him a dozen or two dozen different styles of scabbards, then let the immortal choose one for himself.

When Elder Yan raised his head to explain his thoughts to Ji Yuan, he found that the Mr. Ji who had been sitting in the chair on the other side of the table had disappeared, leaving only an empty teacup. The Zuo family members were stilly curiously admiring the calligraphy, and were unaware of everything else at this moment.

. . .

Ji Yuan walked away in the rain. This was the first time walked under the rain using his water control technique, but he still borrowed an umbrella from the room outside the Yan family’s shop.⁵

The reason why Ji Yuan was in a hurry to leave was not because he was truly impatient to meet the City God of Juntian Prefecture, but rather because he did not want to miss the beautiful sights of Juntian Prefecture’s capital city.

When he got near the city, Ji Yuan opened his umbrella and entered the city with the attitude of an ordinary citizen, walking around and listening to the beautiful images the rain made in his mind.

After wandering for a while, Ji Yuan finally came to the Temple Administration Lane of Juntian Prefecture’s capital. In most cities, the district where the City God Temple was located was named Temple Administration Lane.⁶ It was an important location for holding temple fairs and sacrificial activities, and Juntian Prefecture’s capital was no exception.

Ji Yuan was very confident when he promised the Zuo family before, and he had concluded that there would be no problems when he thought about it. However, now that he was truly under the watch of the City God, Ji Yuan felt a little uneasy.

The City God of a prefecture was usually much more powerful than the City God of a county. They would even have many more subordinate departments. For example, for a prefecture the size of Juntian Prefecture, their underworld could be estimated to have around twenty-four divisions.

Ji Yuan did not come empty-handed. He chose a few shops around the temple and bought a box of cakes and candied fruits, and also purchased two jars of decent wine, before rushing to the City God Temple.

As it was a rainy day, not many people were in the City God Temple. Several vendors selling incense and candles pushed their stall carts inside into the temple corridor. When they saw Ji Yuan enter through the temple gate, some of them immediately started enthusiastically promoting their wares.

“Hey, sir, you simply must have some incense to burn when you come to pay respects to the City God. I have some top-quality sandalwood, two coins for three sticks!”

Incense sticks? He wouldn’t dare to purchase it, definitely not!

Ji Yuan shook his head politely and declined, walking along the side of the temple corridor to the several temple halls in front.

First, he arrived at the main hall. Unlike other pilgrims who came to burn incense and pray for blessings, he took out several plates of snacks from the upper layer of the food box, and, after a brief explanation to the temple priest, he placed them on the altar, with a pot of wine on top.

After that, Ji Yuan simply cupped his hands and bowed to the statue of the City God, and left the main hall, going to one of the side halls of the City God Temple.

There were many clay statues sitting in this side hall. In front of the statues were signs indicating to which Yin Division each figure belonged to. However, Ji Yuan did not need to look at the worlds. He just searched through the statues one by one based on an instinctive feeling. Finally, he stopped in front of the clay statue of the Lord of Civil Judgement.

It was said that the friendliest Chief Official in the City God’s underworld, and the one easiest to speak to, was in most cases the Civil Judge.

There were many fewer pilgrims in the side hall, and on a rainy day there was practically no one at all. It also sounded like there were not many people nearby in general.

Ji Yuan quickly distributed the remaining food offerings from the food box one by one, and placed them on the small altar in front of the statue. Then, he put down two small wine glasses, and took out the wine jug to fill them.

After he had finished all this preparation, Ji Yuan faced the statue of the Civil Judge, cupped his hands, and bowed. He then used his spiritual energy to assist the lingering power of his decree and spoke.

“I respectfully invite the judge of the Rewards and Punishment Division under the City God of Juntian Prefecture to appear before me!”⁷

In the underworld, the Lord of Civil Judgement, who was reviewing documents, suddenly heard a very clear burst of sound imbued with Taoist energy. However, the Lord of Martial Judgement next to him, as well as the other ghost messengers around him, were unaware of it. He immediately knew that this was an invitation from an expert.

1. Idea/desire/meaning/wish. Previously also translated as “divine knowledge.” Really there’s no good translation here
2. T/n: LOL this man is acting so nonchalant
3. T/n: I did my best, but this whole paragraph was wonky as heck
4. T/n: The tone shift cracks me up – “I am a powerful immortal bringing gifts” to “oh btw what ’bout my scabbard pls” XD
5. T/n: don’t ask me why he doesn’t have his own umbrella anymore after the author made a point of describing it whenever JY was walking anywhere… Maybe he lost it *shrugs*
6. See chapter 26 footnote 3 for the whole square/lane/neighborhood debate. “District” would also fit very well
7. He’s inviting someone in the Rewards and Punishment division, not the Lord of Rewards and Punishment.