Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 119: Night Rain on Jiaoye Mountain

The atmosphere in the tea stall had become a little strange. Although Ji Yuan hadn’t looked that closely just now, he opened his eyes and little more and glanced around. Judging from the situation, he found that, including himself and the two tea stall shopkeepers, there were only six or seven people who had nothing to do with what was happening.

The aura of all the other people, which was originally normal, had changed in that moment, particularly that of the burly man in front of him, followed by the two women next to him.

All of these people were subtly observing Ji Yuan. They were not competing against each other, which meant that they were all a group.

Although Ji Yuan was helpless, he really wasn’t afraid. After all, they were just ordinary warriors. Not only were they not a threat, but if he really didn’t want to get into trouble, he could just run away, and he estimated that no one would be able to catch up to him.¹

So he just picked up the teacup and drank the tea, and then looked helplessly at the strong man opposite him.

“Uh… brother, livestock is expensive and hard to take care of. It’s better to walk. It’s a bit tiring, but it’s more comfortable.”

Ji Yuan simply spoke a couple sentences, then took a closer look at the seven- or eight-year-old boy who was banging on the teacup. Although it was not clearly visible at first glance, the more he looked, the more peculiar he seemed. He endured the pain and opened his eyes a little wider. Suddenly, he discovered a layer of gray fog on the boy’s body.

It was this layer of fog that prevented Ji Yuan from initially discovering the child’s peculiarity. However, once his sight passed through the layer of fog, the little boy’s appearance was extremely clear, and gave off a feeling of intelligence.

Seeing Ji Yuan looking at the child beside her, one of the two women to the side narrowed her eyes and spoke.

“Sir, you look familiar. It seems that we met in Juntian Prefecture a few days ago, but we meet again now outside the city.”

Another woman also chimed in.

“Could it be that the gentleman fell in love with us two sisters when he saw us that day? Hahaha…”

Ji Yuan didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He hadn’t even clearly seen what the two women looked like, but from the sound of their voices he knew they were indeed the ones who had been in the shop that day.

Originally, he was simply a little curious about the boy, but now it felt like a conflict was about to break out. What else was there to say? He had seen stranger things.

Ji Yuan sighed and smiled.

“Yes, there truly are such coincidences in this world. Whether or not the two ladies believe me, I don’t want to cause trouble. Since I am clearly not welcome in this small teahouse, I have no choice but to leave…”

Ji Yuan didn’t really want to get into a fight with this group of people just because of a misunderstanding. It was unnecessary and boring.

After finishing the cup of tea in his hand, Ji Yuan stood up. Under the stare of the burly man, he said something apologetically to the young shopkeeper who was about to come over to greet him.

“No need to come greet me, young man, I won’t be staying here.”

His words finished, Ji Yuan lifted the bag onto his shoulder and picked up his umbrella. He took another glance at the child who was about seven or eight years old, left the table, and walked out of the tea stall, continuing westward along the official road without any intention of lingering.

Inside the tea stall, the strong man and the two women all looked at Ji Yuan’s retreating back, their bodies were slightly tense, ready to deal with the other party suddenly turning and attacking.

In the time it took to drink a cup of tea, Ji Yuan’s back had blurred with distance in their sight, and there were still no signs of him turning back.

In truth, that distance was so far that it would make no sense at this point to turn around and attack.

“Is that person really just a passerby?”

The large man wondered. He looked at the two women beside him, and one of them answered with a frown.

“But we did see him before, and we can’t mistake him. It was that day in the clothing store in Juntian Prefecture’s capital, he was the same as he was today… carefree and relaxed…”

Another woman also said:

“This man is obviously no ordinary person. Just like Mo Tong said, Juntian Prefecture’s capital is quite a long distance away from here. We just saw him in the city two days ago. How could he have walked here by today? Unless he rode a carriage or a horse, wouldn’t he be exhausted?”

“Well, I tried to test him just now, and he seemed to have noticed something, but his tone was quite helpless.”

The large man, Mo Tong, continued staring into the distance at the road as he talked, where Ji Yuan’s figure was becoming increasingly faint.

The child who had been knocking on the bottom of the tea cup finally stopped the noisy banging and looked at the direction where Ji Yuan had gone.

She whispered to the woman next to her, “I want to eat fried crispy pork.”

“We only have flatbread cakes and jerky. Do you want to eat them?”

“No! I’d rather starve than eat those!”

The child grumbled and began banging on the bottom of the teacup again. The woman next to him rolled her eyes. Either way, if the child was truly hungry he would naturally eat them.

. . .

Three days later, on a rainy night on Jiaoye Mountain at the border between Juntian Prefecture and Xining Prefecture, Ji Yuan was walking down the mountain path with his umbrella.

Jiaoye Mountain² got its name from the fact that the overall shape of the mountain looked like a banana leaf when viewed from the highest peak. The mountain was not very large, nowhere near the size of Laohua Mountain, where Ji Yuan had met the two children from Yuhuai. It stretched on for more than thirty li³ along the border between the two prefectures, with an average radius of only ten li.

Mr. Ji had a habit: when it rained, he always liked to slow down his pace when walking, because on rainy days, he could clearly “see” the beautiful scenery of the world, and “feel” everything on the earth with the sound of the rain.

The same was true at this moment. The rain has been falling non-stop since before nightfall. Ji Yuan had been walking so slowly for such a long time that he soon “heard” the location of a building in front of him.

As he grew closer, he smelled a hint of sandalwood, and determined the state of the furnishings inside. It was indeed a mountain temple.

Ji Yuan kept his umbrella open until he had made it under the eaves, then folded it and shook off the water. He pushed open the temple door observed the interior with a relaxed expression.

This mountain temple was only a few zhang⁴ in depth and width. Although it looked dilapidated, and there were no temple custodians, it was likely not a deserted temple. After all, the altar was still neatly arranged, and there were some remaining offerings on it. It seemed that the local mountain folk would come here to pay their respects during festivals, or when there was some event happening. Of course, most of the time, no one was here.

Taking a closer look at the statue of the Mountain God, Ji Yuan found that his appearance was different from ordinary people. Although he wore a robe, his cheekbones were more prominent. There are two bulging bumps on his forehead. The sculptor had carved several swirling cloud patterns on the two bumps, making Ji Yuan unsure as to whether they were horns or lumps.

There were no traces of the divine light from the god’s spiritual golden body on the statue of the Mountain God, but it did have some incense power lingering around it. It was extremely weak, and one could tell at a glance that it was not a true god. Combined with its unusual appearance, it must be a monster born and raised in nature,⁵ who wanted to use the power of worship to speed up his connection with the earth veins to achieve the status of Mountain God.

In accordance with their nature, these smaller gods with the bodies of monsters couldn’t stay in the temple.⁶ They could only come back to gather incense power and offerings when they sensed villagers leaving tribute.

Ji Yuan opened both of his supernatural-discerning⁷ eyes, looked at the statue of the so-called “Mountain God” for just a few moments. The Mountain God’s achievements in Taoism were far from being considered a master’s. Moreover, although Jiaoye Mountain was small, it was still a mountain, after all, with a radius of over ten li. It was not just a simple small manor or village.

With the meager incense offerings given to this small temple, it would take years to grow power and maintain the temple. He would also need to cultivate diligently. Plus, as a spirit, it would take hundreds of years of trials and tribulations to achieve results. But those results would be limited. And either way, if he died halfway through, then it would all be over.

“Cultivation is difficult!”

Ji Yuan sighed, closed the temple door, and apologized to the statue. He dragged a cushion to the corner and sat down to rest.

He took out “A Historical Account from Outside the Tao” from his sleeves.⁸ Reading this kind of “true-to-life fiction” on a rainy night was also a unique experience.

There is an iron brazier in the mountain temple, which was most likely used for burning paper prayers or something similar. There was also firewood and charcoal for a fire beside it, which seemed to be for the convenience of villagers and pilgrims who wished to take a short break. However, Ji Yuan did not need a fire at all, as he did not feel cold, so there was naturally no need for him to start one.

After spending a half hour reading the book, he switched to “Bright Strategies.” He happened to come across a passage speculating and elaborating on the art of Spirit Binding.⁹ It discussed the possibility that the power to bind gods and spirits also had something in common with a master’s power to impose Edicts. At this point, it is obvious that the author of the book did not truly understand the art of Spirit Binding.

Ji Yuan subconsciously glanced at the statue of the Mountain God in the temple. Previously, Qiu Feng from Yuhuai Mountain had given him a fragment of the “Spirit Guiding” book, and he had already studied it thoroughly.

With Qiu Feng having worked on comprehending this fragment for more than 10 years, the incomplete chapter contained many insights and records. Its degree of completion had actually become quite high, but it still lacked a key essence. Therefore, apart from helping him concentrate his mind as he cultivated, it did not have much importance to him.

In fact, ever since Ji Yuan had obtained the miraculous power of “Edicts,” which was in some ways a universally applicable tool with remarkable power,¹⁰ he had the ability to restore the art of Spirit Binding to some extent. After all, his own True Edict was one level higher than a master’s Edict.

But theories were nothing more than theory, and no matter how high their projected feasibility, they had not yet been proven by facts.

Of course, Ji Yuan could speculate, but he had no intention of trying it. He had nothing to do with anyone here, and the little God in this temple was still a god. He couldn’t just bully gods by relying on his own power.

Just as he was pondering, Ji Yuan suddenly felt something in his heart, and heard some unusual noises.

Not long after, the temple door was slammed open from the outside with a “bang!” and seven wet figures rushed into the temple. They hurriedly glanced around the tmple, but failed to spot Ji Yuan, who, in the shadow of the night, blended into the background at the corner of the temple wall.

“Hoooh…hooh…He didn’t catch up, did he?”

“Probably not… how is the young master?”

“Still unconscious!”

“Mo Tong, how is your injury?”

“It’s okay!”

Ji Yuan looked at the group of dripping wet and disheveled men an women over by the entrance, and could smell the scent of blood. They looked much worse than before, both in their conditions and in their number of people. It was the same group of people who he had met before in the tea stall.

1. T/n: ah, how far JY has grown… I remember not too long ago when he was scared to death of a couple martial artist amateurs
2. “Banana Leaf Mountain”
3. ~15 km, ~9.3 miles
4. 1 zhang = ~3.3m
5. This is a good place to talk about the terminology that I use: “Monster” refers to any non-human, non-ghost, and non-god supernatural being. This includes things like dragons, the tiger Lu Shan, and any animalistic demons. “Transformed Monster” means a monster who has broken through in cultivation and successfully refined a human form. “Demon” refers specifically to a corrupted/evil monster, though ordinary people (like YZX) might still just use “monster.”
6. This is related to the principle that divinity and more earthly creatures don’t mix
7. Alternate translation: Dharma Eyes, but I wasn’t convinced about that one
8. T/n: Ah, so he carried the books on his person instead of in his bag, so he didn’t lose them when he left the bag in the inn
9. Refer to ch. 76
10. The word used is 万金油 (wànjīnyóu) which means literally “Tiger Balm,” an ointment used to treat any pain, or figuratively “jack of all trades”