Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 118: Getting Into Trouble

[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

On the other hand, in an inn in Juntian Prefecture, Ji Yuan, who was cultivating on the bed, felt a change in his heart. He opened his eyes and looked out the window.

About two breaths later, with a flash of light, the Green Vine Sword flew into the room and hovered in front of Ji Yuan, buzzing with excitement.

“Hum…”

Looking at the Green Vine Sword’s excitement, Ji Yuan smiled with relief. It seemed that the demon was successfully slain.

“Hmm? Did anything unexpected happen?”

The Green Vine Sword and Ji Yuan were in tune with each other, but Ji Yuan could only feel its emotions and understand the general idea, not its exact meaning.

“Oh, everything is settled?”

“Buzz…”

The Green Vine Sword seemed to twirl around as if seeking praise.

“Okay, okay, you are the best!”

Ji Yuan laughed. He didn’t know exactly what happened, but the sword had a spirit and could sense whether the problem had been resolved, perhaps even better than ordinary people could. It should be fine.

With that thought, Ji Yuan stretched out a hand and grasped the Green Vine Sword. He gently pulled out the blade, looked at it carefully, and found that the lingering, invisible word “execute” was only a little dim. There was still a mysterious yellow energy entwined with the sword.

“You didn’t use it all with one strike?”

Ji Yuan asked. He felt another proud vibration pass through the Green Vine Sword. It seemed that it truly did not need to unleash all of its power.

Ji Yuan pondered it for a moment, and finally agreed. He might have piled on a little too much before, which consumed a lot of the mysterious yellow energy in his inner world.

However, this is also very beneficial for the Green Vine Sword, so Ji Yuan did not lose out in the end.

After all, he had been greatly influenced by online culture in his previous life. No matter what he experienced or theorized, this mysterious yellow energy, which he suspected was based on virtue, was now gathered in the immortal sword. In addition to tempering and making up for the shortcomings of the original material of the Green Vine Sword, it also contained the potential for some kind of mysterious change.

Ji Yuan returned the sword to its sheath and placed the Green Vine Sword diagonally on the bed. Ji Yuan stretched his arms and looked at the stars outside the window.

“It’s time to sleep.”

He lay on his side on the bed, resting on his hand as the pillow. As he breathed in and out, he felt the spiritual energy and the five elements in his body flow along with his breath.

Ordinary people breathed into their chest, while warriors breathed into their abdomen;² every time Ji Yuan inhaled and exhaled, his spiritual energy reached all the way down to the tip of his toes and flowed through his whole body.

Ji Yuan awoke naturally the next day when the rooster crowed. Because the concerns on his mind had been resolved, he slept very comfortably last night. He had also gained in his cultivation.

“Haha! Alright, it’s time to head out!”

Ji Yuan stood up, put on his coat, picked up the bag hanging by the bedside, and strode towards the door. The Green Vine Sword, which had been quiet all night, floated up, slanted its blade to follow Ji Yuan, and flew two arm-lengths behind him.

The door of the inn opened with a creaking sound. The innkeeper had left willow branches, a pinch of salt, and a face towel on the stool outside the door.

However, Ji Yuan was now free of dirt; except for occasionally wishing to splash some clean water on his face to refresh himself, he no longer needed to brush his teeth or wash his face.

He went to the counter downstairs, checked out of the room, collected his deposit, and left the inn.

This Hong’an Inn was exactly the same inn as the one where Ji Yuan had previously stayed. He came here again hoping to see if he could retrieve his lost luggage.

However, three years had passed, so naturally his bag and umbrella were nowhere to be found. There wasn’t anything important, but the loss of the bamboo slips and the chess manuals was unfortunate. After all, they had been given to him by City God Song; now, they may have long been used for kindling.

Juntian Prefecture was still as lively as ever. As he walked around the city, Ji Yuan could occasionally smell a faint scent of osmanthus flowers, though he didn’t know which courtyard it came from.

He walked along the same street that the entrance of the inn had been on, all the way to the western city gate. Along the way, he bought over a dozen flatbread cakes and a bamboo jar of pickled vegetables, as well as an umbrella. Then, he left Juntian Prefecture’s capital without hesitation, striding off into the distance.

About six or seven miles out of the city, he opened his eyes wide and looked back. In the direction of the capital, Ji Yuan could see a sky filled with streams of rising energy. The colorful auras gathered above the city, forming clouds: emotions, desires, hatred and resentment gathered together, all of which was normal for a city.

With a chuckle, Ji Yuan’s walking speed began to change, as if the earth were shrinking beneath his feet. He even hummed a tune, not quite singing nor chanting.

“Searching along~ Singing along~ Traveling along… Searching for fate~; This world under heaven~ Down below~ This beautiful world… heading for virtue…”³

After experiencing the game of chess, Ji Yuan would often unconsciously visualize his inner world superimposed on the real world. He did the very same at this moment; he was not using any techniques as he moved, but his figure was ethereal as mist. The fusion between his mood and his inner world gave hi the sense of being integrated into the world.

Originally, Ji Yuan considered going back to Desheng Prefecture first, but after thinking about it, he had another idea.

Previously, he had held the white chess piece and fought against the demon in the sky of his inner world, Ji Yuan noticed from the brief glimpse of his energy that that Yin Zhaoxian had a new kind of literary aura. In addition, he could feel the power of the City God’s roar even from afar, so he knew that Yin Zhaoxian was definitely not in his hometown of Ning’an County.

It was such a coincidence for them both to be traveling, and he had gained a new literary aura as well. Ji Yuan could guess without even thinking about it⁴ that Master Yin would definitely perform brilliantly in the provincial examination, so he would most likely go on to the capital of Zhili Province to take part in the metropolitan examination,⁵ or even the court examination.⁶

Since Yin Zhaoxian would have gotten onto the Laurel Announcement, he would first need to return to Ning’an County, and then he would set off to Zhili Province at an ordinary person’s pace. Even if he wanted to travel long distances by boat or by horse, he would have to set off immediately to make it to the distant capital of Zhili Province from Ning’an.

The country of Dazhen was an important piece in Ji Yuan’s general path for humanity. His good friend Master Yin was also a key figure. Sooner or later, he would have to go to the imperial capital of the country to determine the situation. In that case, Ji Yuan decided that he would meet Master Yin in Zhili Province next spring.

As it happened, this was also a good opportunity to visit the Tongtian River along the way. The second friend Ji Yuan had made in this life, and the first dragon he had ever met, was in the Tongtian River, though Ji Yuan wasn’t certain whether he was the River God, or if he just lived in the river.

. . .

It was noon on the second day after Ji Yuan left Juntian Prefecture. A tea stall with several horse-drawn carriages was parked to the side of the official road in up ahead. It seemed like a good place for passers-by to rest. Ji Yuan could not see it clearly from a distance, but he could tell that it was popular, and that there were many people inside.

The two shopkeepers, one older and one younger, were a little too busy, perhaps because many customers had just arrived. When Ji Yuan arrived at the tea stall, he saw them making tea and clearing the tables. A fire was burning in the stove so as to circumvent the need for running water.

“Sir, please find a seat and sit down. We will serve you right away!”

The older man who was making tea shouted at Ji Yuan.

“No rush, no rush, you guys are busy!”

Ji Yuan replied. He looked around at the 8 tables in the tea stall. Almost every table was filled with people chatting with each other, drinking tea, and eating cakes. Only two tables in the corner on the other end had empty seats, so Ji Yuan headed over.

To one side of the two tables were two women and a child. The child turned a tea cup upside down and used a chopstick to drum along the top, making banging noises. Meanwhile, the two women were eating snacks that didn’t look very appetizing while drinking tea.

On another side of the table sat a burly man with a bamboo hat. Ji Yuan didn’t think too much and walked to the large man’s table.

“Brother, might I please sit here and rest for a while?”

The burly man had seen Ji Yuan approaching. When he saw that he truly wished to sit at the table, he replied expressionlessly.

“Of course!”

“Thank you very much!”

Ji Yuan bowed to the large man and sat down. He leaned his umbrella against the table and waited for the shopkeeper to come serve him.

“If you would like, sir, you can go ahead and drink.”

The strong man pushed his teapot forward, pointed to the teacup on the table, and said to Ji Yuan.

“I’m just a little thirsty, so I will happily accept!”

Faced with man who would look frighteningly fierce to ordinary people, Ji Yuan naturally felt no pressure. He took a teacup, and raised the teapot, and poured himself a cup.

“Hahaha… Sir, you are quite composed and carefree, you don’t seem like an ordinary gentleman at all. Seeing how you are walking alone all this distance on the official road, without any animals to help you travel, don’t you feel tired?”

Although the burly man’s tone was flat when he spoke, it sounded different to Ji Yuan’s ears.

He turned his head and looked at the other table. Apart from the child at the table who was still pounding tirelessly on the teacup, the two women to seemed to be wearing sturdy clothes were also looking at him. In the blur of his vision, there was a vague sense of familiarity.

Additionally, it seemed that the burly man’s words had triggered something. Ji Yuan felt that the aura of many people in the tea stall had changed.

‘What?⁷ I just went to have a cup of tea, but I somehow got into trouble? ’

1. The chapter title is 摊上事了. If you take each of those characters individually, it gives you something like “finishing matters at the vendor’s stand,” but taken together they somehow (??) give you “getting into trouble.” If anyone knows why, please let me know. I’m going to chose the latter for now.
2. For example, for singers, they tell you to breathe into your diaphragm/stomach.
3. T/n: I thought translating poetry was bad… try translating localized bad singing
4. Lit: “guess with just his toes”
5. 会试 (huìshì): The next step after provincial exams: country-wide exams
6. 殿试 (diànshì): highest level of exams. If the metropolitan exam lets you be an official in charge of managing the country (for example, budget management, receiving complaints, compiling/reporting data), then the court exam lets you be a court advisor to the emperor (for example, creating policies, passing laws, managing the army, etc.)
7. Alternate translation: “What the hell,” or “how unlucky.”